George Russell has revealed how a 45-minute ‘power nap’ helped him in his bid for pole position at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

With drivers dealing with jet lag and the race’s unusual weekend schedule, adjustments have to be made to sleep cycles, with wake times of 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. being common locally.

As the drivers got used to the shift, Russell explained how he slept whenever and wherever he could, with a nap between FP3 and qualifying helping him in his bid for pole.

He eclipsed Carlos Sainz by just 0.098 seconds to claim P1 – with Mercedes’ W15 threatening victory with the cold air and track temperatures to match the package.

“It’s hard to get your eight hours of sleep when it’s so compensated, so for me it’s also just trying to sleep when you can, so I took a nap before qualifying,” Russell told the outlet. media. RacingNews365.

“I woke up a little sleepy and made sure I was in top condition at the end of qualifying. It’s really hard, but we’re all in this together.

“I went to sleep because the body is everywhere, everywhere, and I just try to sleep when I can and just listen to my body. And when I need to sleep, I sleep.

“There wasn’t much to do, the car felt good. I felt good, we didn’t change the setup at all going into qualifying, so sleep was the best thing.

“Normally I would try meditating instead of sleeping, just closing my eyes and listening to waves crashing against the sea or breathing exercises. I like box breathing and it works for me.

“It relaxes my mind and takes some of the pressure off.”