Russell out in Q1: ‘You get what you deserve if you don’t do things right’

George Russell was very critical of himself, after he finished in P18 in Qualifying at the Hungaroring. The Briton had trouble with the traffic, and failed to avoid elimination in Q1 thanks to having to deal with cold hard tyres on his last lap.

'Great car, but you get punished'

"We were fast, the car felt great," Russell told Sky Sports after his early exit. "But for the whole session, we were out of sync with everybody. I got overtaken by four cars at the last corner. I was three-tenths down before I even got to turn one. Tyres were nowhere, it was totally normal that we went slower. Really disappointed because we didn’t need to take so many risks. The car was quick enough to get through to Q2 and Q3. It was rare we make these kinds of mistakes, you get what you deserve if you don’t do things right."

Russell was also self-critical after what happened, rather than blaming others for going for the small gaps in the dying seconds of the session. "You all have to think about yourself, there are so many cars on the track. I understand why some cars did it. Valtteri on a lap got blocked by 6 cars, but we shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Not a good session for us. If you don’t do things right, you’ll get punished, and we got punished for sure. It’s nothing to do with the drivers, you’re out there fighting for yourself."

Russell added: "We have a great team, and we could’ve avoided that mess. I won’t blame any drivers for overtaking me, I’d have overtaken them if I was in their shoes. I will do my best to come back through tomorrow, it’s not the easiest overtaking track."