George Russell admitted after qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix that Mercedes made a “rare” error, which led to the Briton being eliminated in Q1.
12 months on from claiming his first pole position in F1, Russell could only manage 18th at the Hungaroring on Saturday, whilst team-mate Lewis Hamilton achieved a shock pole position.
Russell’s Q1 exit came as a huge shock to Mercedes, with team principal Toto Wolff having slammed his fist on his desk.
The King’s Lynn-born driver was furious to have been eliminated so early, especially as he knew the W14 was quick enough to qualify towards the front.
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He seemingly blamed Mercedes for his early exit, with him having complained after the session that Mercedes took “so many risks”.
Russell explained how he found himself “out of sync” with everybody else, which saw several drivers on a hot lap overtake the Briton whilst he was preparing for his final lap.
With Mercedes having gotten their qualifying strategy wrong in Russell’s eyes, the 25-year-old isn’t surprised that he was eliminated.
Russell noted that when things aren’t done “right”, you ultimately “get what you deserve”.
“We were fast, car felt great,” Russell told Sky Sports F1 after his early exit.
“But for the whole session we were out of sync with everybody and then I got overtaken by four cars into the last corner starting my lap – one of which was [Pierre] Gasly – and I was three tenths down before I even got to Turn 1.
“Tyres were nowhere and it was totally normal that we went slower and I didn’t make it through.
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“Really disappointed because we didn’t really need to take so many risks. We went out for one lap at the end, we were one of the few cars who did that, the car was more than quick enough to get through to Q2/Q3.
“It’s rare that we make these kind of mistakes. You get what you deserve, I guess, if you don’t do things right.”
Russell now has a mountain to climb on Sunday if he wants to replicate his third-place finish from last season, given that he’ll be starting on the ninth row of the grid.