George Russell plans to “sit back and watch it all take place” from P3

George Russell says he doesn’t plan on getting involved in a fight with Max Verstappen and Lando Norris at the start of the F1 Austrian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver qualified third on the grid for Sunday’s race at the Red Bull Ring, behind McLaren’s Norris and Red Bull’s Verstappen, who stormed to a dominant pole position.

Last week in Barcelona, Russell made an incredible start from fourth and swept past both Norris and Verstappen to move into the lead by Turn 1.

But the Briton has downplayed talk of a repeat, insisting he is going to “sit back and watch it all take place” instead.

“I think it’s a bit more challenging here,” Russell said. “I think these guys always get their elbows out. So maybe this time it’s, you know, sit back and watch it all take place.

“But I think, you know, last week I lost a lot of time battling with Lando and probably focused too much on the guys ahead of me and ultimately that cost me the position to Lewis and almost to Charles as well.

“So, as I said, I think the race is behind us tomorrow.”

Asked about Mercedes’ chances in the race, Russell said he expects Verstappen and McLaren to be out of reach.

“I think Lando and Oscar seem a little bit quicker than us,” he explained. “Obviously Max is down the road at the moment.

“So I don’t know where Oscar ended up finishing, but I’m confident Lewis and I can probably beat the Ferraris tomorrow and hopefully hold up Oscar’s progress.

“But it’s a long race, high degradation, anything can happen.”