George Russell has revealed the secret to his Las Vegas Grand Prix qualifying success – a pre-session nap!

The Brit was the favourite to take pole position alongside team-mate Lewis Hamilton after promising showings in all three practice sessions, and while his Mercedes colleague couldn’t produce a representative Q3 lap, Russell was unstoppable.

​​”I took a nap before qualifying,” Russell said after qualifying. “Woke up a little bit drowsy and then made sure I was in peak condition come the end of qualifying. It’s really difficult, but we’re all in the same boat”.

He then added: “I’d normally try and probably sort of meditate as opposed to sleep, just sort of close my eyes and listen to, I don’t know, waves crashing against the sea or breathing exercises. I sort of do like box breathing and works for me. It sort of relaxes my mind and takes a bit of pressure off.

“But yeah, today got probably 45 minutes. It’s just adapting every single weekend. When people ask me, like, what’s your race weekend routine, the routine changes every single weekend, depending on how you slept the night before, the circumstances you find yourself in. And obviously here, it’s so challenging for everyone being so offset, working night shift effectively. You know, for me, just sleeping when I can is working for me.”