Russell Starts with a Third Place in the Australian Grand Prix
George Russell began his quest for the world championship with a third-place finish in practice for the Australian Grand Prix, marking the start of the season. After a significant review of the sport’s regulations, Russell’s Mercedes team has been singled out as the team to beat, and the British driver arrives at Sunday’s race in Melbourne as the favorite of the bookmakers.Oscar Piastri from McLaren led the new era of Formula 1 in the sunny Albert Park, surpassing Russell by 0.214 seconds, followed by Kimi Antonelli, Russell’s teammate. Russell finished three tenths of a second behind, in a position and only one thousandth of a second behind Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari driver.Charles Leclerc, the fastest in the first session, finished fifth in the other red car, while Max Verstappen and the current world champion, Lando Norris, had to settle for sixth and seventh place, respectively. Norris, who was only able to complete seven laps in the first session of the day due to a gearbox problem in his McLaren, finished a full second off the pace, a disappointing start to his title defense. Aston Martin team director Adrian Newey said on Thursday that drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll could suffer nerve damage due to a vibration problem in their car. Alonso and Stroll finished in 20th and 21st positions out of 22 racers, only surpassing Sergio Pérez from Cadillac, who failed to set a competitive lap. Mercedes is considered the team with an advantage over its rivals Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren this year, but Piastri’s speed suggests that they might not have everything in their favor.
Quinn Rooney/Getty Images
Piastri, a native of Melbourne, is the local favorite among a crowd expected to reach 500,000 people over the weekend. Piastri led the championship for longer than anyone else last season, but finished third behind Norris and Verstappen.Verstappen went off track at Turn 10 in the final stages of the session while trying to adapt to the demands of the new regulations. He was six tenths of a second behind Piastri at the end of the day.Even if we start the season magnificently, I have never had enough confidence to say that we are going to be faster and that we are going to be on the podium at the end of the race weekend.
Toto Wolff, Mercedes boss
