George Russell was less than impressed with Yuki Tsunoda after the AlphaTauri driver’s lock-up into Turn One during qualifying for the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix.
The 24-year-old had gone into Saturday a little puzzled as to his Mercedes car’s performance, as the Silver Arrows had generally struggled during practice sessions.
Both Britons were always going to start further up the grid than they qualified though, due to penalties for Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, Esteban Ocon and Lando Norris.
Truth be told, the German team likely would not have entered the weekend thinking that they would need to worry about Norris or Ocon, but they were persistently troubled by that pair, as well as Fernando Alonso.
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They faced a battle to make it out of both Q1 and Q2, but they successfully negotiated those parts of Saturday afternoon.
Hamilton qualified seventh, one position ahead of Russell but, because of the penalties to Ocon, Verstappen and Leclerc, they will start fourth and fifth respectively.
Alonso will start in third having qualified sixth, giving him a chance of scoring a podium finish in the race.
Norris was unable to get a representative lap time in Q3, but he has penalties anyway, so the 22-year-old is set to start in 18th place, although this could change.
It was the first session that a peculiar piece of action took place though, with Russell slowing down to allow Tsunoda to pass, before the Japanese driver locked up massively heading into Turn One.
Russell described the young racer’s driving as “super dangerous,” and the session ended super disappointingly for Tsunoda.
He was set to improve on his lap that had been good enough for 19th place, but he locked up again heading into the Bus Stop Chicane, and that was all she wrote for his qualifying.
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Team-mate Pierre Gasly made it into Q2, but was eliminated in another disappointing day for the Faenza-based team, but the Frenchman will start the race eighth because of the penalties in front of him.
Tsunoda, meanwhile, is set to line up 13th on Sunday afternoon.