{"id":1098,"date":"2026-08-22T12:57:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T15:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=1098"},"modified":"2026-08-22T12:57:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T15:57:36","slug":"george-russell-approves-2nd-on-zandvoort-grid-and-celebrates-feel-like-myself-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/george-russell-approves-2nd-on-zandvoort-grid-and-celebrates-feel-like-myself-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Russell approves 2nd on Zandvoort grid and celebrates: &#8220;Feel like myself again&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key takeaways<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Front-row return:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/george-russell-edges-lando-norris-to-capture-dutch-gp-sprint-pole\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">George Russell<\/a> acknowledged <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/lando-norris-encouraged-by-zandvoort-sprint-pace-performance-similar-to-budapest\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lando Norris&#8217;s<\/a> single-lap superiority after missing out on pole for the Dutch Grand Prix by 0.102 seconds.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Personal turnaround:<\/strong> The Mercedes driver expressed satisfaction with his performance, stating he feels &#8220;like myself again&#8221; following a difficult stretch of races prior to the summer shutdown.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Victory target:<\/strong> Building on his earlier Sprint victory, Russell confirmed his intention to challenge McLaren for the win on Sunday.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">George Russell praised Lando Norris&#8217;s performance while approving Mercedes&#8217; front-row result in Saturday&#8217;s qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix.<sup><\/sup> After securing 2nd place on the grid, the Briton emphasized his personal recovery following a challenging stretch of races prior to Formula 1&#8217;s summer shutdown.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Russell finished just 0.102 seconds behind Norris in Q3.<sup><\/sup> While he felt Mercedes had the latent pace to contend for pole position, the #63 driver expressed satisfaction with the front-row start as a foundation for the second half of the 2026 season.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Lando did a great job, so congrats to him and McLaren. It was a strong session,&#8221; Russell stated.<sup><\/sup> &#8220;I thought we had it in there to fight for pole, but I&#8217;m pretty satisfied with P2, especially going back after such a tough last few races before the break, sort of get in my groove again and try to fight with them tomorr<sup><\/sup>ow.&#8221;<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">George Russell won the Sprint race and qualified 2nd for Sunday (Photo: Reproduction\/F1)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Russell&#8217;s optimism builds on a successful weekend so far.<sup><\/sup> After setting the fastest time in Friday&#8217;s Sprint Qualifying, he went on to win Saturday morning&#8217;s Sprint race without serious threat.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;I feel in a good place and just sort of feel myself again, which is really important,&#8221; Russell admitted.<sup><\/sup> &#8220;It was really nice to drive around here, and these cooler temperatures made the track feel really fast. So, it was a real joy for us all to drive, and looking forward to the race.&#8221;<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Formula 1 action continues at Zandvoort on Sunday for the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix. <strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/\">GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/a><\/strong> covers all track activities live from Zandvoort with reporter Leonid Kliuev. Follow all paddock updates on our <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/news\/\">news page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Session schedule: Dutch Grand Prix 2026<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><td><strong>Session<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Local time (CEST)<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>UTC<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Race<\/strong><\/td><td>Sunday, August 23 \u2013 15:00<\/td><td>13:00<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Broadcast guide: Where to watch in the United States<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>United States (Eastern Time \/ ET)<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Broadcaster:<\/strong> Apple TV<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Race:<\/strong> Sunday, August 23 \u2013 09:00 ET<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frequently asked questions (FAQ)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>1. Where will George Russell start the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">George Russell will start 2nd on the front row alongside pole-sitter Lando Norris.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>2. How did George Russell perform in Saturday&#8217;s Zandvoort Sprint race?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Russell led every lap from pole position to win the 24-lap Sprint race for Mercedes.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>3. What was the lap time gap between Norris and Russell in qualifying?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Norris took pole position by 0.102 seconds over Russell.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>George Russell acknowledged Lando Norris&#8217;s top pace in Zandvoort qualifying, but highlighted his personal rebound and set his sights on fighting for Sunday&#8217;s Grand Prix victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020312541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"George Russell","42wp_featured_image_credits":"Mercedes","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[17,16],"42wp_author":[],"class_list":["post-1098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","tag-george-russell","tag-mercedes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1099,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098\/revisions\/1099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020312541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1098"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=1098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}