Mercedes’ George Russell rued a “messy” and “frustrating” final run in Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix qualifying session en route to securing the third fastest time on Saturday afternoon.
Russell led the Mercedes charge against the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull in Austria during Saturday’s qualifying session and finished best of the rest behind Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
The Briton’s 1:04.840s laptime was just over five tenths back from Vertsppen’s pole time and just over a tenth back from Norris in second.
Russell admitted he didn’t quite have the pace to match the top two but still lamented track conditions on his final run costing him time.
“That last lap in Q3 was all a bit messy,” the Mercedes driver said.
“I had to let quite a few people by on my out lap and then during the lap, I could just see dust everywhere and gravel on the track.
“And, you know, that’s the pretty frustrating as a driver when you go through a corner, you just see gravel everywhere.
“So there’s a bit more in it, but really pleased to end up P3.”
Russell conceded that “the gap to [Verstappen] was bigger than expected,” and also adjudged the two McLarens to be quicker than Mercedes during Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Still, the Brackley-based Formula 1 squad’s recent improvement means that Russell largely earned his third-place qualifying result on merit, albeit thanks to Oscar Piastri getting his final effort deleted due to a track limits infraction.
What is true is that Mercedes appears to be faster than Ferrari for the third Grand Prix weekend in a row after outpacing the Scuderia at Montreal and Barcelona and Russell is bullish regarding his team’s chances of beating the scarlet red cars once again in Sunday’s race.
“I’m confident Lewis and I can probably beat the Ferraris tomorrow and hopefully hold up Oscar’s progress,” said Russell.
“But yeah, it’s a long race, high degradation, anything can happen.”
Russell delighted the Spanish GP crowd with a sweeping move around the outside of Turn 1 at lights out, carrying him from fourth to first, but he’s ruled out a similar occurrence at the Red Bull ring, instead focussing on keeping those behind him at bay in the fight for the podium.
“Maybe this time it’s, you know, sit back and watch it all take place,” he said.
“But I think, you know, last week I lost a lot of time battling with Lando and probably focused too much on the guys ahead of me and ultimately that cost me the position to Lewis and almost to Charles as well.
“So, as I said, I think the race is behind us tomorrow.”
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