SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Seven-times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton said Mercedes team mate George Russell had a great shot at winning Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix and ending Red Bull’s dominance.
Russell qualified second on Saturday alongside Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and the last non-Red Bull driver to win a Formula One race could also be the one to end their run of 15 successive victories.
The Briton secured his maiden F1 victory in Brazil last November.
Sainz and team mate Charles Leclerc qualified first and third while Hamilton, a four times Singapore winner, qualified fifth.
Red Bull’s double world champion Max Verstappen qualified 11th and his team mate Sergio Perez 13th on a circuit where overtaking is a challenge.
“I think George has really good shot at potentially winning,” Hamilton told reporters.
“I really hope that he does. I hope he gets a great start and gets ahead of the Ferraris that would be amazing for the team and for him,” he said.
“For me it’s just, yeah, see what I can do. If I can get further up then great. The car was good yesterday on the long run, but I changed the car overnight and now I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.”
(Reporting by Tom Westbrook, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
