By Mark Gero
George Russell had no problem Saturday morning in the sprint race for Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix by taking a 1.3 second victory over Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari, who just overtook the McLaren of Lando Norris earlier at Tarzan corner laps earlier for second.
For Russell, it was his third sprint victory of the season, and the Briton took the lead right from the start and held it all race even when a sudden bit of rain appeared just a couple of laps before the finish.
Series leader Kimi Antonelli just missed out in his Mercedes from taking third place, followed by the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri in fifth. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in his home race, took sixth just ahead of the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton with the Alpine of Pierre Gasly receiving the last point in eighth.
For Russell, it was a continuation of a pole the day before for this event, and later in the day, the Mercedes driver is hoping for more success in qualifying. But for the moment, Russell can celebrate, reminding himself that the last-minute rain could have changed things if the sprint had gone further.
“Obviously a great start to the weekend,” said Russell. “The three of us were just talking – if there was one more lap, it would’ve potentially been a very different end to the race, so I was glad the rain came when it did. I had a pretty good start. The Ferraris look fast so it’s going to be a tight one this afternoon.”
And that event will take place for qualifying during the middle of the afternoon at 1500 hours when hopefully the rain will not occur.
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