George Russell was delighted to claim third place on the grid for tomorrow's Bahrain Grand Prix after a tense qualifying session.
Max Verstappen took an emphatic pole position for Red Bull, but Russell was within a tenth of Charles Leclerc who claimed a front row spot for Ferrari.
Russell managed to finish ahead of both Carlos Sainz and Sergio perez in the final round, and significantly better than his Mercedes team mate who will start from ninth place on Saturday.
Although the two Mercedes drivers had been quickest in second practice, today's performance by Russell was better than many had expected after pre-season testing at Bahrain last week.
Russell agreed that today's performance gave him real hope that the team had made significant progress with its new W15 contender after a tough time for the squad in 2023.
“We've obviously made a big step forward in single-lap qualifying pace," he said in parc ferme after qualifying. Since the test, the whole team has been working incredibly hard to fine-tune the set-up and make improvements.
“Lewis and I have been back on the simulator, fine-tuning the set-up, making some improvements," he said.
“We've had some really great drivers back at base doing the work in the simulator," he explained, praising the behind-the-scenes work of Frederik Vesti, Mick Schumacher and Anthony Davidson at Brackley.
“Everybody at the factory has done an amazing job to give Lewis and I a car that we feel much happier with, a base that we can build upon,” Russell added.
Last year's car was often described as a bit of a "diva", with a vicious or wicked rear end. That certainly seems to be much improved this year.
"When we look at our qualifying performances over the last two years in Bahrain and our race pace, starting P3 is a great place," he pointed out.
"We hope we haven't compromised the race pace at all. I think it'll be a close fight between everybody - other than Max! But ultimately, Max is still out there in front, so we've still got some catching up to do.
“Red Bull is still so strong at the moment. Max is doing a really great job," he said, adding that Red Bull had also conserved more fresh sets of tyres for Saturday. "He's got the new tyres as well."
That puts the spotlight on how well Russell can challenge Verstappen and Leclerc at the start ohe tomorrow's race. "If there's an opportunity to take the lead, we'll go for it, but ultimately I think the race for all of us is for second.
"It's clear how tight it is between a number of teams, including ourselves, Ferrari, the McLarens and Aston Martin," he continued. "I think we're likely to be in a close fight for the podium positions behind Verstappen.
"It's exciting knowing that if you put the whole lap together and find a tenth or two, that will add up to several positions on the grid," he said, adding: "Let's hope for some craziness!"
"We hope we're in more of a sweet spot for the Grand Prix tomorrow," commented Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. "Yesterday we looked slightly better than today on our single lap performance.
"We intentionally tried to set the car up for tomorrow's race," he explained. "At the start of Qualifying, we wondered if we had sacrificed too much for tomorrow but in the end, it wasn't too bad. P3 is a good place to start."
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