PRESS RELEASE.
Fabienne Racing salutes George Russell’s second place in sprint qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix, 0.120s off pole, in an older-specification Mercedes. His team-mate Kimi Antonelli, the championship leader, took seventh with the upgraded version, almost seven tenths off.
The team sees this as a validation of its technical philosophy. “At Fabienne Racing, we have a project, and that project has been running old spec from the start,” says the team principal. “Our chassis has seen three seasons and one brother-in-law. Upgrades arrive when our title partner has had a good week.”
The team also notes that George Russell will have to take an engine penalty for the Grand Prix, which does not stop him starting from the front row of the Sprint. “We know all about that,” says the team principal. “With us, the engine is changed in the trailer, behind the Dacia, and the penalty is missing the sandwich.”
Fabienne Racing finally notes that Max Verstappen’s pole remains subject to review by the stewards for a possible yellow-flag infringement. The team does not comment on ongoing proceedings. Florian, for his part, has always respected the flags, ninety-nine per cent of the time, the rest was the visor.
An old car on the front row: in Malmedy, out east, that is called good form.
“We maximised our package,” concludes the team principal. “The package is last year’s version, and it is perfectly fine.”
About Fabienne Racing: one driver, one kart, one Dacia, one project.
It’s true, we checked: Formula1.com.
