George Russell facing key Mercedes loss in Kimi Antonelli fight

George Russell will carry a key Mercedes disadvantage into the Japanese Grand Prix in the fight against team-mate Kimi Antonelli. 

Throughout qualifying at Suzuka, Russell was complaining of balance issues with his car, in particular, losing chunks of time through the Esses in Sector 1 compared to the Italian in the sister W17.

Antonelli eventually claimed pole by 0.298s as Russell overcame his issues to bag another front-row slot, knowing that if Antonelli wins the race, he will take over the lead of the drivers' championship for the first time in his career.

Detailing just what happened to his car, Russell, and boss Toto Wolff explained how a front-wing change was required, but that he was locked into the setup owing to parc fermé conditions. 

"It was really odd, we made a set-up adjustment going into qualifying, and the car just did not feel the same as it had been the whole weekend," Russell reflected to the media, including RacingNews365.

"You saw my first laps in Q1; I was down in P7, P8, and we had to make a massive adjustment during qualifying with the front wing to adapt. 

"The team have already had a look. We don’t know whether something incorrect was done or what happened, but I’m kind of glad again to be in this position because after Q1, I was like, 'I’m not sure where we’ll end up.'

"We found a mechanical issue with the car on the rear end, and it was just mainly through the Esses. I couldn’t attack any of the corners. 

"The rear was trying to step out on me throughout. I’m sure we’ll try to see what happened. 

"There’s not really anything we can do now.

"It is not ideal. I’ve felt really comfortable with the car this whole weekend, and in qualifying, something didn’t quite feel right. 

"So, let’s see tonight, maybe we’ll get some answers, maybe I can adjust my driving style to compensate, but definitely not the session we would have wanted. 

"That's two weeks in a row that qualifying has been a bit tricky."

Wolff added that the changes made had induced oversteer into the W17, which affected Russell.

"It was something we expected to have less impact than it did, and it put the car on the nose with too much oversteer," Wolff told Sky Sports F1. 

"I think he needs to carry this into the race now, which is certainly a disadvantage, but these things happen."

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