George Russell has revealed how a headwind in Q3 inspired him to go from fearing a premature elimination to claiming pole position at Formula 1’s British Grand Prix.
Russell was languishing in the drop zone in the second stage with three minutes to go when he produced a lap at the death to secure his passage to the Q3 shootout.
The Briton delivered when it counted to take provisional pole and he improved on his final run to boast a 0.171s advantage over Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Russell, who qualified fastest in Canada last month, expressed that his W15 “came alive” in the closing segment to front Mercedes’ first front-row lock-out since 2022.
“Yeah, this is definitely one of the best feelings I’ve ever had on a Saturday afternoon, just the car was just insane when these went on in Q3,” he explained.
“It just really came alive and without a doubt one of the best feelings I’ve ever had driving the circuit and you know crossing the line seeing my name P1 and then you know seeing on the front row, you know we couldn’t have even dreamt of that after the first three or four races, so yeah it feels good.”
Russell explained how he capitalised on a wind direction change allowing him to brake later between Brooklands and Copse to react to his team-mate’s improvement.
“From Turn Six to Turn Nine I gained a lot, Turn Six and Seven was mega,” Russell elucidated.
“There’s a big headwind through there so I braked really, really late and just could carry the speed through the corners.”
Russell has conceded that the overcast conditions prevalent across the opening two sessions prompted him to be concerned that he wouldn’t even progress to Q3.
“But it was just on rails the car, I just felt so confident in it and you know Q3 we really turned it up because Q1 and Q2 was very, very challenging,” he continued.
“I felt like I was getting knocked out at various points, the track improved in every single lap.
“And probably going into Q3 was the most pressure I’ve ever felt in a qualifying session because the whole Q1 and Q2 runs it was like on the verge of getting knocked out every single occasion and I wasn’t feeling that confident with myself, but as soon as I went through Turn One and Two and Q3 I felt good and managed to do the laps.”
Russell’s second pole in four rounds has provided added validation that Mercedes has overcome its past struggles to now be a consistent contender at the sharp end.
The ex-Williams driver has admitted the German marque is relishing the renewed momentum that has derived from an aggressive development plan in recent months.
“It’s been feeling great since Canada when we bought these upgrades, you know the two of us have been qualifying in the top three consistently,” he added.
“But it really came into its own today, we were really quick in FP3. FP1 yesterday, we struggled in, FP2 a little bit.
“But these conditions just really got the car into a perfect window and Monaco was just really, really nice and there’s no guarantees for tomorrow for sure.
“But we feel like we’re riding this wave at the moment and I mean obviously for us as a team, I don’t know when the last time was we were on a front row.”
However, Russell is cautious that McLaren and Red Bull remain a step ahead under race conditions and expects those two to be a threat to Mercedes’ win chances.
“I think realistically we know we’re probably a tenth or two behind Lando [Norris] and Max [Verstappen] but I think we’ve got a good fight on our hands,” he previewed.
“But the weather is going to play a huge part in that, you know it’s been raining and drying up for the last couple of days, there’s a bit of rain on the forecast tomorrow.
“We’re probably on course for another Montreal-style race where it’s going to be very changeable, so it’s going to be a long race.
“As I said we’re riding this wave right now but it doesn’t mean anything because tomorrow is where the points are scored, but we’re obviously in a great position to fight the victory.”
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