Russell blames Verstappen: 'I probably lost time because of him!'

George Russell believes that he would've been in pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix if he hadn't been blocked by polesitter Max Verstappen. The Brit has been quick all weekend, securing third in the sprint race and performing well in qualifying. In the post-session press conference, the Mercedes driver reflected on what could've been.

Just after qualifying at the Losail International Circuit, Russell revealed that he struggled to picture exactly where he was losing time on his final lap. "My first lap was really strong, I was really pleased with that. I think I was a couple of tenths clear, and then I just didn't improve on that last lap," the Mercedes driver began. "Obviously I had a really scrappy out lap with a near collision with Max and I ended up going through the gravel two corners prior to opening my lap, so it was not a good start so that was probably the 55 milliseconds!" Russell laughed playfully as he blamed the polesitter.

The Brit isn't disappointed with his front-row start, highlighting Red Bull's quick turnaround. Earlier on Saturday, Verstappen struggled, finishing eighth in the sprint race. "It's great to be in this groove at the moment for front row starts, which has been really pleasing considering where we were three or four races ago, and the race pace this morning looked great. Max did a great job, Red Bull seemed to turn it around a little bit since yesterday but let's see what tomorrow brings," Russell said.

Looking ahead to tomorrow's Grand Prix, Russell is certain that it's going to be a race not to miss due to the closeness of the top four teams. "It's going to be exciting. Those inside starting positions were really tricky, think every driver on the right-hand side made a poor start and that ultimately cost me a chance to fight with Lando (in the sprint). Now, obviously Max up front, I think it's going to be a really close fight between all four teams. Ferrari looked at the same pace as Lando and myself this morning. So, I mean, I hope it's going to be a good one, but tyres seem pretty resilient. Maybe we'll see another DRS train, I don't know." Russell concluded.

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