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Russell reacts to sprint qualifying p4 Austrian Grand Prix

Russell remains critical: 'I could have done better there'

28 June at 17:54
  • Kada Sarkozi
  • Editor

Since Monaco, something started to click again for Mercedes, and the Silver Arrows are now able to fight for the better positions within the leading pack. In sprint qualifying, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished in P4 and P6 respectively. However, Russell was still not a 100% satisfied with his lap in Austria.

After claiming pole position in Canada and finishing fourth in qualifying in Barcelona, George Russell once again put his Mercedes on the second row of the grid for the Sprint in Austria. The Briton was still critical of his lap. "The soft felt really good, to be honest, and my lap felt really strong. I was pretty surprised at the gap, but I think I probably over-egged it on my outlaps. Took too much life out of my tyres on the out lap and I think probably just took that sort of peak grip away from it," Russell explained to F1TV.

Ahead of the weekend, there were many predictions about how do the cars rank at the front of the grid. The Briton also shared his evaluation so far, as he finished behind the two McLarens and pole sitter Max Verstappen, but did manage to defeat the two Ferraris in all three sessions of sprint qualifying. "Probably a bit ahead of Ferrari at the moment. McLaren still seem to be a small smidge ahead. But, it's nice to sort of be at the front end a bit more consistently."

Russell positive for the Sprint

Starting from P4 on the grid, the one-time Grand Prix winner hopes to challenge for a place on the podium. "Definitely fighting for the podium, I think, tomorrow in the sprint. Obviously, eyes on the main race is the most important, but validation again that we're kind of in this mix now." Russell will have to fight against Verstappen, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to climb onto the Sprint podium on Saturday.