Russell dissatisfied on Saturday: ‘I will take the result of course’

The Mercedes team once again finished a tricky qualifying session, as just like in Baku, one of their cars was knocked out in Q2, however, this time it was Lewis Hamilton. Following the red flag cause by Charles Leclerc, George Russell finished in P6 on Saturday.

Russell was not happy with how the qualifying session went for him, as with a minute to go in both Q1 and Q2, the Briton was in danger of getting knocked out. “I won't necessarily say quite pleased, but I will take the result of course. It's a very flattering result for the performance that we showed. Got a decent lap in Q2 to just scrap through. Just get into Q3 and that is not where we should be,” he told Sky Sports.

Looking to improve on Sunday

Russell is also placed in a difficult situation, as he the Mercedes driver will likely have the chance to overtake Kevin Magnussen’s Haas and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine, both Leclerc and Max Verstappen will be looking to jump him. “Lots to think about, and questions that need to be answered, but tomorrow is a new day. I hope so, I definitely hope so. It's a theme for us that we have a good race car and a bad Saturday's. We need to try and get a head of the Haas and then the Ferrari's tend to struggle a bit more on Sunday, but we will focus on tomorrow first. We need to think on the bigger picture and take the fight to the guys up top,” Russell added.