Russell briefly lost his way: 'No idea why I had no speed'

George Russell had mixed feelings about his day at the Circuit of the Americas. In qualifying, the Mercedes' Briton finished fifth, behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who finished third. Russell was reasonably happy with that starting position, but less so with the way it came about.

"It's been a really challenging day. I've been off the pace, and I've not been able to identify why." Russell said after qualifying in hot Austin. "I can definitely feel the improvements we've made with the update, but it's been a strange Friday. I'll put it on my shoulders though as the driver; I just need to work on finding out why I've not been as quick as I think we can be."

Russell reasonably happy with fifth place

Nevertheless, that fifth place was still quite pleasing to Russell. "I'm pretty pleased with P5 as at some points it looked like we may not have even made it through to Q3. My final lap was a reasonable effort; I made a small mistake at turn one which probably cost me one more position on the grid."

The Grand Prix will not be run until Sunday, with the Sprint Shootout and sprint race awaiting Saturday first. "Turning to tomorrow, we can be encouraged. With the exception of Qatar, the Sprint Shootout on Saturday morning tends to go better for us. I will take all those positives and work on finding some more pace tonight."