Russell frustrated by "infuriating" McLaren Qatar F1 sprint race tactics

George Russell labelled McLaren's tactics "infuriating" after being relegated to third place in the Qatar F1 sprint, having qualified second and fallen fractionally short of pole position yesterday.

McLaren's Lando Norris claimed pole, with team-mate Oscar Piastri in third, but the Australian made a bold move past Russell's Mercedes around the outside into Turn 2 on the opening lap to claim second place.

Thereafter the McLarens teamed up to keep Russell in check as Norris, having initially pulled away, dropped back slightly to keep Piastri in the DRS window.

Russell also had DRS and lunged up the inside into Turn 1 at the beginning of the third and fourth laps, only to have the door closed robustly. On both attempts the defensive move came so late, and the cars came so close to touching, that Russell fulminated over the team radio.

At the beginning of the final lap Russell tried again but once again the McLaren's rear wing fully occupied his field of vision. Norris then let Piastri pass to win the race.

"It was very close into Turn 1 on a couple of occasions," said Russell. "It was so frustrating every lap, Lando backing up, giving Oscar the DRS.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

"Obviously I understand why they did that. But when you're out here, you're fighting. You want to give it everything, and you want to put a race on for the fans. It was just pretty infuriating.

"To be honest, I struggled towards the end, but I think Lando had some good pace. Oscar was struggling a little bit, so it would have been good to be able to go head-to-head with Lando and see what the true pace would have been – as I think he had quite a lot in the pocket, just giving Oscar the DRS."

"I basically got a bit of clean air and went around the outside [at the start]," said Piastri. "The rest of the race was pretty tough, to be honest."

"It would have been tough [to keep Russell behind without DRS from Norris]. Teamwork definitely helped today because George was very fast."