George Russell confused with major gap to Verstappen: "It's frustrating"

"I'm struggling to comprehend being on pole in the last race and now 1.8 seconds off today," Russell told Sky Sports after qualifying, "we were six tenths behind Alpine. When the temperature is cold, we struggle."

Mercedes have seen issue before

The Brit went on to highlight that the problem today has been seen at races prior, but he is still confident that a strong finish could still be on the cards tomorrow compared to those around him, stating: "We saw it in Imola and many other Fridays. We can't seem to get the tyres working. It's frustrating. I'm confident we'll have more pace tomorrow compared to Alpine, McLaren and Williams as well but still half a second to a second behind Red Bull and Ferrari."

Podium finish unlikely for Russell or Hamilton

He finished by explaining that he expects Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc to fight through the field quickly but also that he and Mercedes want more than a lacklustre qualifying session, "I think Max will still win the race, the pace he's got he'll still win. Charles will come through, I think it's unlikely that we'll be on the podium. Carlos and Checo there still. We need to look overnight to understand it. Qualifying is out the way which has been our weak point. It's not great, we want more than this."