Russell delivers McLaren quip after Norris sprint swap

George Russell says he simply wants the "best man to win" following McLaren's late swap in the Qatar sprint. 

Russell was tucked up behind Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the sprint event, but could not get past Piastri to attack Norris after the leader dropped back to give his team-mate the DRS assistance. 

Norris would ultimately hand victory to Piastri on the line as payback for the Australian giving up the sprint victory in Brazil to aid his then-slim title chances.

Reflecting on the situation, Russell quipped that the formation flying was "not what I want to see as a fan."

"It is frustrating when you've got team orders in front of you and it is two against one," Russell told Sky Sports F1.

"We know in this sport you can't overtake without DRS, and I think Lando had a lot of pace in hand, I had a lot of pace in hand, but they worked very well together as a team.

"But it is not how I want to see F1 if I'm a fan at home, it is not what I want to see because I want to battle it out on track. 

"I want the best man to win, and of course the ending as well, but you've got to respect them for their ultimate goal which is to win the constructors'.

"But if Lando went off into the distance, I'm confident I could have passed Piastri, and that was one less point for them."

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Russell's own Mercedes qualifying

As for qualifying, Russell will start on pole position after initially qualifying in second, 0.055s behind Max Verstappen.

However, the world champion was handed a one-place grid penalty for blocking Russell on a preparation lap, driving "unnecessarily slowly" according to the stewards. 

Discussing the race ahead as he seeks successive grand prix wins for the first time in his career, Russell predicted a close fight between the leading four teams. 

"It's great to be in this groove at the moment, four front row starts in a row, which has been really pleasing considering where we were three or four races ago," he told media including RacingNews365.

"The race pace [in the sprint] looked great, Max did a great job and Red Bull seemed to turn it around a little bit.

"I think it's going to be a really close fight between, I mean, all four teams. Ferrari looked on the same pace as Lando and myself [in the sprint].

"So, I mean, I hope it's going to be a good one, but the tyres seem pretty resilient, maybe we'll see another DRS train, I don't know."