George Russell ‘downer’ fear sparks FIA request hope for Qatar GP

George Russell has revealed his concerns that the Qatar Grand Prix could be a "downer", with the drivers having requested a change to the DRS detection zone. 

Russell secured second on the grid for the final Sprint race of the season after taking the fight to the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. 

The Mercedes driver got the better of Norris to clinch a spot on the front row, but fell narrowly short of sprint pole at the Lusail International Circuit. 

It marked a dramatic turnaround for Russell who had been 14th in practice, leaving him concerned going into sprint qualifying.

Asked if he knew the car had pace, Russell replied: "No, to be honest. I was P14 in practice. It's just nice, my qualifying hasn't been great recently, the last... bar Singapore. 

"For a while, I haven't had a good session. So I was pretty happy to get a couple of good laps under my belt. And I was always sort of there, thereabouts [during] the session. 

"So that was nice. This track, honestly, is such a joy to drive around. It's so quick. The grip so high. So it feels nice."

Russell's race concerns

Starting on the front row for the sprint is a major boost for Russell, as the likelihood is he will finish towards the front. 

Overtaking is expected to be extremely difficult in the sprint once the field has gone through the first corner, with concerns having been raised to the FIA. 

According to Russell, the drivers requested for the DRS zone to be increased along the start/finish straight, to ensure overtaking is possible in the grand prix. 

Discussing overtaking being difficult, Russell said: "Yeah, I think it's going to be... I don't want to be a downer on it, but [after] Turn 1 is probably going to be where we end up really.

"We briefly spoke about it in the driver's briefing about why the DRS hasn't been extended, and I hope maybe after the sprint, they can adjust it if needed for the race.

"I think it will be challenging to overtake, but obviously we're in a good starting position, so yeah, we'll take it."