George Russell showed dissatisfaction with Mercedes’ qualifying strategy for the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, believing he could have qualified closer to the front.
The Brit qualified in fourth place in what summed up a consistent showing from the German marque across all the prior free practice sessions.
Mercedes has endured a difficult triple-header so far, with Russell falling behind in race pace after qualifying third at Imola, followed by a nightmarish qualifying at Monaco, in which Russell and team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli failed to complete Q2 after technical issues and crash damage respectively.
At the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Saturday, Russell set the exact same time as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, a 1:11.848s, three tenths of a second off the pole position time set by Oscar Piastri.
But having set the time second, Russell was forced to settle for fourth place, leaving him on the dirty side of the grid for the start.
Speaking to media including Motorsport Week after qualifying, Russell indicated that the team should have enabled him to get a tow of team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who qualified in sixth, over two tenths off his best time.
“I just felt we could have been a bit more aggressive with the strategy to try and get a slipstream in Turn 1, especially with Kimi only having one set of new tyres, he was never going to set a competitive lap on his old set.
“Because even if you do the lap of your life, tyres are seven tenths offset. So I just felt we could have potentially worked together to go for a big result in the end, second perhaps the quickest anyway. But sometimes you’ve got to put it all on the line if you want to get those big results.”
Russell hopeful of Bahrain-style ‘silver lining’
Russell was quick to acknowledge that the W16 is not strong when the weather is hot, and with heights of around 30 degrees forecast for the Grand Prix, the signs look ominous for him and Antonelli.
However he did make the point that in Bahrain, when the weather was similarly warm, he was able to finish in second ahead of Lando Norris’ McLaren.
“We also made a lot of changes to the car this weekend to try and improve the race pace. So to see that we haven’t really hindered the quality pace is a positive.
“But then also it may mean it’s not going to improve the race pace. So tomorrow is going to be an interesting one for us.
“We struggled a lot when it was the soft compound of tyres when it was hot. But when it was the hard compound of tyres in Bahrain and it was hot, we obviously finished second there. So it’s when the tyres overheat, let’s say if the tyres overheat by 10 degrees on a C4, it’s much more punishing than 10 degrees on a C1 tyre.
“So that’s sort of the only slight silver lining to give us a bit of hope for tomorrow.”
READ MORE – The forlorn qualifying tactic that didn’t boost Red Bull prospects at F1 Spanish GP
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