George Russell admitted Mercedes was left “scratching our heads” after struggling to find the expected pace during qualifying for the 2025 Formula 1 British Grand Prix.
Anticipating a stronger showing in the cooler conditions, the British driver revealed the team found themselves further off the pace than expected throughout much of the session, only unlocking performance on his final Q3 lap.
Mercedes struggled to find performance throughout Friday and Saturday’s practice sessions, as Ferrari caught the Silver Arrows off guard with its impressive pace.
Despite that, Mercedes still expected to fight for pole, believing the cold Silverstone weather would bring the car into a stronger window.
Both cars scraped through to Q2, sitting as low as 11th and 12th, before narrowly making it into Q3 in eighth and ninth.
Russell’s first flying lap in the final session was only good enough for sixth, as he found himself behind both McLarens, both Ferraris and Max Verstappen by over half a second.
But he managed to pull it together on his final run, finding enough time to miss out on pole by just 0.137s and jumping ahead of both Ferrari drivers to secure fourth.
After the session, the 27-year-old reflected on the last-gasp effort that kept him firmly in the fight for Sunday’s race.
“Yeah, really pleased with that last lap – every lap until that point we were anywhere from five-tenths to eight-tenths off the pace,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“We were scratching our heads a little bit today because we thought with the colder conditions things would come more towards us and it was only that last lap in Q3 when it did so.
“It’s always good when your best lap of the weekend is the last one.”
Mercedes caught out by rivals’ progress and track demands
Even with a last-minute second-row start secured, Russell admitted the team was left disappointed, having expected more from the cooler Silverstone conditions that Toto Wolff had tipped to favour Mercedes.
He suggested the upgrades brought by its rivals could be a factor in its lack of pace.
“Yeah, I do think today was probably, on the whole, it was less competitive than we were potentially expecting,” he explained when asked if the team had anticipated more.
“I think the likes of Ferrari have been very competitive this weekend, which was a bit of a surprise.
“McLaren have brought some little upgrades, we didn’t really bring anything, but we haven’t brought anything for a while now, so we just need to try and understand that.”
However, the Brit pointed out that Mercedes’ expected advantage in the cooler conditions may have been neutralised by the unique demands of the Silverstone circuit.
“It is cool, but of course, the circuit is so quick, you’re putting so much energy in the tyres, so much temperature in the tyres,” he added.
“The tyres are running hotter here compared to what they’re running in Canada, and Canada was a 50-degree track. Here it’s a 25-degree track, but just because of the layout, so that gives it some perspective.”
Looking ahead to Sunday, Russell was clear on what conditions would suit Mercedes best.
“Cold and dry, to be honest. It’s clear whenever it’s warm we struggle, whenever it’s colder, it’s better,” he said.
“So as I said yesterday, we’re working so hard to improve this. We’ve been fortunate that we’re racing here this weekend because two weekends ago in England it was 34 degrees.”
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