“They’re not here for Lewis, they’re here for me”: George Russell baffled by Oscar Piastri’s Chinese heritage revelation

George Russell was left visibly baffled by Oscar Piastri’s response regarding his ancestral heritage during the press conference after the Chinese Grand Prix qualifying. The McLaren driver had previously teased about having as many as sixteen home races throughout the 24-race F1 calendar.

The Chinese Grand Prix, the current race weekend on the calendar, is one of the numerous races the young Australian driver had jokingly referred to as a home race. During his debut F1 race at the Shanghai circuit in 2024, Piastri had acknowledged it as one of his home races.

Sharing on his X (formerly Twitter) account, the former Alpine F1 junior driver had mentioned:

“My great-great-grandfather was Chinese, so I think that makes this my 1/16 home race?”

Ahead of the 2025 edition of the Grand Prix, the media did not miss the opportunity to ask him to clarify his ancestral roots. And following his brilliant drive that secured him pole position, Piastri was quizzed about it.

However, as he attempted to answer the question, in a video shared on F1’s official X (formerly Twitter) account, Russell interjected:

“Are you Chinese?”

Piastri responded, explaining:

“The 1/16 heritage wasn’t a joke. That’s real.”

Russell, reacting in surprise, quipped:

“What? Wow.”

Oscar Piastri further elaborated on his roots and playfully suggested that the fans were there to watch him race rather than Lewis Hamilton:

“So they’re all here for me. They’re not here for Lewis; they’re here for me.”

George Russell, who qualified second for the main race, was just over eight-hundredths of a second behind the McLaren driver.

Russell, who had a relatively quiet but progressive race weekend at the Shanghai event, was among the least favored drivers tipped to clinch pole position for the Grand Prix. However, a well-timed lap by the British driver secured him a front-row start for the race.

The former Williams Racing driver will now shift his focus to converting his front-row start into a possible race win at the Shanghai circuit.

George Russell reveals what he did differently to claim a front-row start

George Russell, until securing second place in qualifying, had largely endured a difficult race weekend. Heading into Chinese Grand Prix qualifying, the 27-year-old struggled to get his preparation lap right and was far from his best during the first two qualifying sessions.

However, ahead of his final attempt to claim pole position, the Russell appeared dialed in and produced a lap good enough to secure a front-row start alongside Piastri.

Speaking about what he did differently ahead of the final qualifying session, the 27-year-old, as quoted by the FIA, detailed:

“I just came out of the pits and went dead slow around that warm-up lap ahead of my fast lap,” Russell explained.

“So the first lap in Q3, I was full gas on that lap, and it seemed okay—I think I was in P5, but two and a half, three-tenths behind Oscar, and then found four-tenths on my last lap.

“[It] just came together, and it feels really rewarding when you do your best lap of the weekend when it matters.

“To be in the front row is a really great place to start for tomorrow. It was really, really challenging because the weekend has been difficult for everybody to get on top of these tires and know what the best sort of strategy in the session is—if you go hard on your formation lap or take it easy? I was just sort of going all over the place.”

With his qualifying position, Russell is now within touching distance of claiming his first Grand Prix victory since the 2024 Las Vegas event, where he, alongside Lewis Hamilton, secured a double podium finish for Mercedes.