George Russell explains how he ended up a lowly sixth in Madring F1 qualifying

Russell’s title bid takes another hit as he qualifies four spots behind team-mate Antonelli in Madrid

George Russell has explained his poor qualifying performance in Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix, having ended up a lowly sixth while Mercedes team-mate and title rival Kimi Antonelli took second.

Russell set the pace in Q1 at Madrid’s new street circuit but failed to improve as significantly as his opponents in the next two segments. He was sixth-quickest, some three tenths down on his team-mate, in both Q2 and Q3.

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But could this be linked to Russell brushing the wall with his front-left tyre in Q1, in very similar way to the incident that ended Alex Albon’s running in FP3 due to damage?

“I don't think so, because my following lap in Q1 we were quicker,” the Briton told Sky Sports F1.

He added, speaking to the written press: “Obviously, I was slightly concerned in the moment, but the car was fine. I went out on top of the session afterwards and then felt in the mix thereafter.

“But just the last lap, I was about three tenths up, tried pushing hard in Turn 11, the tyres couldn’t take it, and then [I] lost all the lap time thereafter. So that was a bit annoying.”

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

“It's a really tough circuit,” he also told Sky. “You almost need to drive a little bit below the limit, then extract that last little bit, and that cost me today.”

According to Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, Russell was also hindered by numerous set-up changes at a Madring track where confidence was key.

“In qualifying, the rear axle was overheating, on top of everything,” Wolff told Austrian broadcaster ORF. “That wasn't the case before.

“He also took some front wing off before the session, then put it back in during the session. And then you don't really know what to expect from the car. Normally, on street circuits, you need to drive lap after lap to get closer to the walls. Changing the set-up obviously doesn't help with that.”

Russell does need a good result tomorrow, given he’s already 66 points adrift of Antonelli in the drivers’ standings, so can he make progress in the race?

“I think tyre deg is going to define it one way or another,” he told Sky. “It will either be no deg, and there will be a procession, or there will be really high deg, and it will be pretty chaotic. So that's for sure going to be the big moment.”

Additional reporting by Jake Boxall-Legge