“I’m very bruised”- George Russell fears of not fitting into Mercedes’ car which may cause fatigue and body ache during the Sakhir GP race.
George Russell had little time to settle with Mercedes ahead of the Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain, and neither the team had time to customize things according to his needs.
Speaking on it, Russell says that he fears of squeezing into Mercedes car which has been optimized according to Lewis Hamilton and also having a problem with clutch paddles on the steering wheel which are too small for his hands.
“I’m very bruised and sore and it’s going to be quite a fatiguing race if you’re not comfortable in the car. I had ice on my shoulders last night to reduce some swelling and what have you, and knees [and] toes,” said Russell.
feeling relaxed ahead of the race
Despite the current problem with the car, Russell is still confident and relaxed about the race, and seem to make an impact in the race on Sunday.
“When I was waiting for confirmation if I’d got this drive, it was incredibly anxious but as soon as I got the confirmation, I just saw it as a great opportunity, so I was pretty chilled,” he added.
“Everyone at Mercedes – Toto [Wolff] and James [Allison] – they just said: ‘Go out and enjoy it – there’s zero expectation from you. If Lewis were to jump in a Williams, let’s say, it would be difficult, so we’re not expecting anything from you, and if you qualify first two rows, top five, top six – fine. You can still get a podium from there.
George Russell has topped every F1 session he’s competed in as a Mercedes driver #SakhirGP pic.twitter.com/9xbrzvSkBR
— WTF1 (@wtf1official) December 4, 2020
“So [I’m feeling] very relaxed. But obviously, I always want to do well, I always want to be happy with my own performance and then comfort-wise it’s still not perfect.”