Russell: 'Glad it's the last time'

In both FP1 and FP3, George Russell was fastest with his Mercedes. He therefore briefly seemed a contender for pole position in Abu Dhabi, but during qualifying the W14's speed was disappointing again.

In a press briefing with GPBlog.com, Russell says that after FP3 they also thought at Mercedes that they could fight for pole position, but due to a difference in temperature between FP3 and qualifying they were still slower than expected. He does think fourth place is a good representation of where the W14 is now.

Temperature drop when there is first a daytime session and then an evening session. What adds to this is that qualifying is often run with less fuel than free practice. "We expect to make maybe a one-second jump, and we only made six-tenth-jump. So it is something we’ll have to look into," said the Brit.

Glad it's the last time

Like Lewis Hamilton, George Russell is happy that this was the last qualifying with this car. "It's definitely a very challenging car to drive and I think that's just shown with the pace with Lewis and I. I think over the season we're joint on qualifying performances, but we're never the same pace, either on I’m four tenths ahead or he's four-tenths ahead. It just shows how difficult it is to get in the sweet spot."