Russell: "Lottery" Turkish GP track surface ‘not what F1 is about’
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George Russell was left extremely frustrated by the track surface at the Turkish Grand Prix, saying it’s ‘not what F1 is about’.Check out the F1 YouTube channel – CLICK HERERussell endured a difficult afternoon having ed in the pit lane prior to the start of the race, meaning he was unable to take to the grid for the traditional standing start.The Williams driver rose up the order to 11th but dropped back down the field, eventually classifying 16th come the chequered flag.Reflecting on the race, Russell described this weekend’s race in Turkey as a “lottery”.”The lap time varies by two to three seconds a lap, if you get the tyres working or not, it’s unbelievable,” Russell said. “This weekend has not been… really what F1 is about. I’m sure the show is great, and I’m sure I would have loved watching it from my sofa at home, but it’s just been a lottery for everyone out there. I love driving in wet conditions but this was just something else.”Even in the dry, the fastest times in practice where someway off the times seen in 2011, when F1 last raced in Turkey – adding to Russell’s frustration that he wasn’t able to fully exploit F1’s 2020 machinery at Istanbul Park this weekend.”It was frustrating not being able to exploit this fantastic circuit, Russell added. “I think everybody was so excited to come here and from the very first lap in FP1 we just had no grip, the biggest factor without a shadow of a doubt was the new resurfacing.”From what I hear and what I understand it all had to be done very last minute and the Turkish corporation or whoever ran the race did really good job to get it done in time, and I heard they were delayed by really poor weather a month or two ago when they planned to resurface it and planned to run other categories to race on it.”Pirelli nominated the hardest three compounds available in its range for this weekend but Russell doubts softer tyres would have made any difference.”Ultimately it’s nobody’s fault, I don’t think it would have mattered what compounds Pirelli would have brought I think it would have been a disaster, they’re like driving on sheet ice and actually the times I went off the track onto the old concrete I had much more grip, and the concrete apron in the pit lane which is normally incredibly slippy compared to the track had a hell of a lot more grip than the actual race track. “4”I don’t think a single driver enjoyed these conditions.”
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