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George Russell has landed in Singapore for the 18th round of the 2024 F1 calendar, scheduled for September 20-22. Ahead of the event, Russell shared snapshots of a padel game with his Mercedes team members, where they got drenched in heavy rain.
Padel has become a favorite game among F1 drivers, with Russell regularly joining his fellow F1 drivers in friendly matchups. This week, he was joined by Mercedes team members in Singapore and seemingly had a great time, despite getting drenched.
Russell shared pictures from his padel game on Tuesday, September 17, and sarcastically suggested it might have been raining, as the photos showed they were getting drenched in a tropical storm. He wrote on X (formerly Twitter):
"I think it may be raining 🤣 Great game of Padel with the team in Singapore 🇸🇬"
George Russell is coming off a podium finish in the Azerbaijan GP, capitalizing on Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz's collision to clinch his third podium result of the season. He returns to Singapore this weekend, the venue where he crashed on the final lap last year while chasing race leaders Sainz and Lando Norris.
With seven rounds remaining in the season, Russell occupies seventh place in the standings with 143 points, one spot behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who occupies the sixth position with 166 points. Mercedes currently is a distant fourth to the leader McLaren in the F1 constructors' standings, with 309 points.
George Russell emphasizes variance in tire performance ahead of the Singapore GP
George Russell was baffled by the variance in Pirelli tire compounds during the Azerbaijan GP, criticizing the tire supplier. He noted that the car's performance varied significantly between the medium and hard compounds throughout the race.
When asked about his expectations for the Singapore GP, the 26-year-old Mercedes driver stated he was uncertain about how the W15 would perform on the 3.07-mile (4.94 km) Marina Bay circuit. He noted that the W15 struggled with medium tires but was the quickest on the hard tires. Russell was quoted as saying in the FIA press conference following the race in Azerbaijan:
"I've got no idea, to be honest, because as I said, just in this one race, we had a car that could have won if you took the pace from half of the race and a car that should have been outside the top 10 from the other half. So I hope we've got the faster version."
George Russell qualified on the front row during the 2023 Singapore GP but an alternate strategy left him chasing the leaders in the final laps. He ultimately crashed out of the race, with Lewis Hamilton inheriting a third-place finish.
