George Russell is pleased Formula 1 didn’t go ahead with introducing a Saturday reverse-grid sprint race for doubleheaders at the same circuit in 2020.
With Spielberg and Silverstone both hosting multiple rounds of the championship this year, there was a late push, which Mercedes blocked, to replace qualifying with a 30-minute race that saw the drivers line up in reverse championship order for the second weekend.
Had that gone ahead, it would have seen Russell start on pole for yesterday’s race that would have decided the grid for today’s Grand Prix.
But rather than see that as an opportunity, the Williams driver admits it would have likely been more demoralising.
“Some would think being in the slowest car I’d want a reverse-grid race,” Russell was quoted by The Race. “It’s actually completely the opposite.
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“If I was in the quickest car I would want a reverse-grid race because it will make me look like a hero going through the field, lunging everyone from miles back.
“But for me in the slowest car on the grid, sat at the front like a sitting duck, I’ll be made to look like an idiot.
“So I’m actually very pleased we don’t have a reverse-grid race.”
Following up, it was put to Russell that such a format is soft of used in the feeder series that follow F1, with the Top 8 of the feature race reversed for the Sunday sprint.
“I think it’s great for F2 and F3, when you are a younger driver, learning your trade, you are in equal machinery and it gives you a second opportunity throughout the weekend,” he explained.
“But equally, in those championships, I feel like it’s unfair when some drivers win three races a year but they are three sprint races, or three reverse-grid races because it’s fallen correctly for them.
“They’ve finished seventh or eighth in a number of events and they find themselves on the front row in Monaco and go off to win a race in Monaco, which lives long in the memory, when a driver who potentially finished second or third and is much more deserving of a race win in Monaco doesn’t get that joy.”
As it is, Russell made Q2 for the fourth straight weekend in the usual qualifying session on Saturday and will start 15th at Silverstone.
