George Russell revealed he enjoyed his battle with Lewis Hamilton but was “blown away” by Ferrari’s pace in the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix sprint race.
Russell extended his lead in the Drivers’ Championship after taking his first sprint race win since Sao Paulo 2022 at the Shanghai International Circuit.
And although Mercedes still seems to have the fastest overall package with the W17, the race was anything but easy.
Hamilton, who started from fourth place, entered the battle for the lead at the start.
Looking back, Russell admitted he was “caught off guard” by the seven-time world champion, but insisted he still enjoyed his fights with the 41-year-old.
“In the end it was quite fun, so there was a lot of strategy involved and how you overtake is not easy,” he told the media, among others. Motorsport week.
“I hope it was a fun race to watch. Usually the sprint races are quite boring, but I had everything under control with the safety car and was happy with the win,” said Russell, adding: “It was very windy and it wasn’t easy because the first corner is so long, and you only have to push one lap too much, and you can destroy your front left tire.”
He continued: “So it was about managing, and especially when we were fighting. Lewis did a great job in the early laps. He surprised me, but he has 20 years of experience.”
“I hope we can bring more, and Ferrari seemed to be wrong in qualifying, but was very close to us in terms of race pace, so in the end we have to find a little improvement for the race,” the sports star concluded.
George Russell will have to be aware of the Ferraris again on race day, if the red cars turn out to be close on the grid.
