‘Things aren’t making sense’ – Russell hoping to understand ‘strange’ lack of pace in Silverstone Sprint Qualifying

George Russell has conceded that he needs to understand his “strange” lack of pace during Sprint Qualifying at the British Grand Prix, with the Mercedes driver also left “very surprised” by the performance of Ferrari during the session.

Russell had not looked quite as comfortable at the wheel of the W17 as Kimi Antonelli in Friday’s sole practice hour earlier on, setting a time some four tenths off his team mate’s effort – but it was Lewis Hamilton who ultimately went quickest ahead of the Italian.

This again proved to be the case in Sprint Qualifying, with Hamilton beating Antonelli to pole while the other Scuderia car of Charles Leclerc claimed fourth place. Max Verstappen took third in the Red Bull, while Russell had to settle for P5 – his time again just under four tenths away from Hamilton’s.

Speaking after the session, Russell said of his day on track at Silverstone: “It’s kind of the story of the year, to be honest – always on the back foot.

“Usually come Q3 I can generally make a step, but today was not quite the case. It was very close to P3 but it’s still very much off the pace of Lewis and Kimi, so I need to try and understand why that is. It’s a bit strange.”

Pushed on whether he had felt from the start of Friday’s running that the car was not quite where he wanted it to be, the Briton answered: “I think it’s feeling quite good out there, to be honest. It’s not feeling too bad.

“I think we were all expecting it to feel a bit worse, just in terms of driving these cars here, but it actually felt quite okay and the high-speed felt fast. But as I said, relative lap time is just not really there, so we need to understand tomorrow for the more important day.”

Russell went on to admit that he was “very surprised” by the pace of Ferrari, the Italian team having faced a tougher weekend last time out in Austria.

“They’ve been on the back foot with the PU and energy management, and here they look the best at the moment so that’s been a real surprise,” Russell explained. “We’ve always known they’ve had a great chassis, but I think some things aren’t quite making sense.

“If I were to have predicted, I would have said Ferrari quick last week and us to be quick this week – obviously Kimi did a great job, but still Ferrari have had the upper hand all day.”