He looked set to come up short against his teammate, who appeared firmly in control of pole after the Briton returned to the pits following his first Q3 run. Instead, Russell managed to pull off a crucial lap right at the end, securing a pole position that could prove invaluable ahead of a race that offers him the chance to close the gap to his teammate in the championship fight.

Speaking after qualifying about how the pole lap came together, the Briton admitted the result had come somewhat unexpectedly after a difficult session. Russell explained that Mercedes had made a few setup changes which still needed to be reviewed to understand whether they had gone in the right direction, before describing the final lap as something that almost came out of nowhere.

He also revealed that some of the setup changes made ahead of qualifying had been based on tomorrow’s forecast, admitting they may have slightly compromised the car’s balance in the short term and left it feeling somewhat out of sync. He finally acknowledged that Antonelli had looked more competitive throughout the session and that Mercedes no longer held the clear advantage they appeared to have yesterday, but explained that he managed to refocus and piece everything together when it mattered most on the final lap.

The British driver looked to be struggling throughout the entire session, finding it difficult to piece together a clean lap as McLaren and Isack Hadjar appeared far more comfortable from the outset. Lando Norris seemed firmly on course for pole after the opening Q3 runs, before the two Mercedes drivers once again came to the fore.

Antonelli looked to have done enough to secure pole position, especially after Russell initially appeared set to complete only a single run. However, the Briton ultimately had enough fuel left for one final push, which proved enough to snatch pole position right at the end.