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Russell on Azerbaijan qualifying interview finishing P11

Russell on missing out on Q3 in Baku: 'It's a funny sport this one'

28 April 2023 at 16:33
Last update 28 April 2023 at 17:02
  • GPblog.com

George Russell finished P11 during Friday's session, after starting from the front row of the grid a three weeks ago in Melbourne. The Briton missed out on Q3 by 0.004 seconds, and finished the session behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton, but he is looking for make up for it in the upcoming sessions.

"We are not fast enough this weekend, obviously, I would have loved to be in Q3, but I was giving everything, the lap was strong, I made a mistake. My last one may have just crept me in to Q3, but I don't think we would been able to qualify on that tyre," the Briton told Mercedes' official channel following his early exit.

Russell was not happy with falling back compared to his result in Australia, and added: "It's a funny sport this one, sometimes going from qualifying on the front row last week to you know both of us well myself out and Hamilton just getting in with P10."

On the other hand, his teammate Hamilton could finish P5, which he did not know at the time, that can show some promise for the team. "I think we don't really know right now what to change to find the pace around this track, it's definitely a unique one, so it's definitely an outlier compared to the first three races we have been to, out of all the tracks where I have had bad qualifying this is one of the ones you to choose to do it so I see no reason why we can't fight back on Sunday," Russell added.