George Russell felt a steering-wheel issue in qualifying cost him a shot at the front row for the 2025 Las Vegas GP. Speaking to the onsite media, including Sportskeeda, after the session, the Mercedes driver admitted the mistake was frustrating, given how competitive he had looked around the tricky street circuit. After winning in Las Vegas last year, Mercedes arrived confident that the layout would play to their strengths. Russell backed that expectation by showing strong pace throughout the weekend and was in the mix for pole. But on his final run, he couldn’t improve, leaving him short of what could have been a top grid position. He attributed the setback to a power-steering problem and felt that, considering the chaos of the session, starting fourth on the second row was a decent outcome. Russell also noted that the wet conditions added an extra layer of difficulty to the track, but it was not the ideal scenario. The first two editions of this venue had already proven demanding in dry weather itself, with most teams wary of the full-wet and damp running on the challenging track. Asked by Sportskeeda about his qualifying performance and missed pole position opportunity, George Russell replied: “I had a steering issue in Q3. I don’t know what it was. It was like a power steering issue. It was a real shame, obviously was quickest in P3, quickest in Q1, quickest in Q2. Then on my second lap, I thought I had to stop the car on track because I couldn’t turn my steering properly. So I don’t know what it was. I feel fortunate to have qualified P4 considering. But of course, it feels like a missed opportunity.” Asked how tricky the session was with the wet conditions in Las Vegas, he replied: “Pretty horrendous. It wasn’t fun at all but it was a nice challenge. You don’t want it to be same every week, it was a nice challenge.” George Russell believes that it is difficult to have tires designed for wet conditions in Las Vegas George Russell admitted that designing tyres for a track like Las Vegas, especially in wet conditions, is a difficult task. He suggested that drivers who didn’t experience the extremely low-grip conditions of Istanbul 2020 would have found the surface even tougher to handle here. According to Russell, Pirelli’s job would be far simpler if circuit tarmac were more consistent across the calendar. Instead, he felt the Las Vegas street layout had multiple variables, and the uneven, unpredictable surface only added to the complexities for both drivers and tyre manufacturers. Asked if he agreed with drivers who suggested it was the worst qualifying conditions of their motor racing careers, George Russell said: “I think that’s probably the drivers who haven’t driven in Turkey in 2020 or whatever year it was. Everyone knew it was going to be challenging. No tires are designed for this type of circuit.” Asked if resurfacing the circuit in Las Vegas would help the cause, he added: “I do think the job for Pirelli would be a lot easier if all the tarmacs were consistent. There are already enough variables with temperature, with circuit layout, with altitude, with downforce levels, you know even with tire compounds. So then having another variable of the tarmac seems a little bit unnecessary.”.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/f1/george-russell-pulls-back-curtain-issue-hampered-f1-las-vegas-gp-qualifying
