George Russell admitted he was left scratching his head after Sprint Qualifying at Silverstone, where Ferrari emerged as the surprise benchmark of the day. The Mercedes driver could only manage fifth place, while teammate and championship rival Andrea Kimi Antonelli secured a front-row start and Lewis Hamilton claimed a sensational Sprint pole for Ferrari.
An unexpected result for Russell
George Russell had every reason to be disappointed after Sprint Qualifying for the British Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver was comprehensively outpaced throughout the session, ending up only fifth fastest, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli secured a place on the front row and Lewis Hamilton stunned the home crowd by putting Ferrari on Sprint pole.
Before the weekend, the widespread expectation was that Ferrari would struggle around the high-speed Silverstone circuit and simply try to minimize the damage. Instead, it was Russell who found himself on the back foot, beaten not only by Hamilton and Antonelli but also by Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc in SQ3. Earlier in the session, he had even come close to a shock elimination during SQ2.
“It doesn’t make sense”
“To be honest, it’s a bit of the story of our season,” Russell said after the session to the official Formula 1 channel. “We always seem to start off on the back foot. Usually, by the time we get to Q3, I’m able to find another step. Today, though, that just didn’t happen. I was very close to third place, but still a long way off the pace of Lewis and Kimi, so I need to understand why.”
“It’s a bit strange. Honestly, when I’m out on track, the feeling in the car is actually pretty good,” the Mercedes driver continued. “We all expected this type of car to be a little more difficult to drive around this circuit, but in reality it felt quite good, and even through the high-speed sections the car seemed competitive. But the lap time just isn’t there, so we need to understand why before tomorrow, which is the most important day.”
Russell also admitted he was genuinely surprised by the performance of Ferrari’s SF-26.
“I’m very surprised by Ferrari. In the past, they’ve struggled with the power unit and energy management, but here they seem to be the best at the moment, so it’s been a real surprise. We’ve always known they have a very good chassis, but I think some things aren’t quite making sense.”
“If you had asked me to make a prediction, I would have said Ferrari would be quick last weekend and we’d be strong this weekend. Obviously, Kimi did a great job, but Ferrari had the upper hand throughout the entire day,” Russell concluded.
Leave a Reply