While “gutted” to miss pole, George Russell was still very satisfied with his performance in his first qualifying session for Mercedes.
After leading the two practices on Friday, the Briton struggled in the final session earlier on Saturday, while teammate Valtteri Bottas upped the pace.
And though the Finn ultimately took pole in qualifying, Russell kept building and building, finishing just 0.026s behind in second.
“It is a really different way of driving, to be honest. I’m trying to unlearn what I learned at Williams and relearn how to drive this car fast,” he commented on adjusting to the W11.
“I tried a lot of things in FP3 and it didn’t go well so, to be honest, I’d have been happy just to get through to Q3 after final practice.
“But no, I’m really pleased. We got it pretty much all together on the final lap. Obviously gutted to miss out on pole by 20 milliseconds, but if you told me last week I’ll be qualifying P2 on the grid next week, I think I wouldn’t believe you.”
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Many are looking at Russell’s performance to perhaps offer clues on the debate as to whether Lewis Hamilton’s success is down to him or down to the car.
And though Bottas did have the edge over the 22-year-old, George did note how strong he has been on Saturdays.
“Valtteri has pushed Lewis a huge amount in qualifying over the years, I think statistically there’s only been a tenth between them,” Russell said, who was outqualified by a teammate for the first time in his F1 career.
“We all know how great Lewis so, just to be right behind Valtteri, coming in last minute, two days of prep I’m pleased, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”
And looking ahead to the race, George did admit it will likely be his biggest test of the weekend.
“I’ve got nobody in front of me tomorrow, which I’ve not experienced for a long, long time,” he said.
“It’s going to be really tricky. Qualifying is what I feel most comfortable with as it’s just balls-out everything you’ve got.
“Tomorrow, you need a bit more control, a bit more finesse, and I’m just haven’t had experience yet. I will give it my all and see what I can do.”
