George Russell admitted he could have reacted better when he skidded into a gravel trap during today’s qualifying session for the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race.
The Mercedes driver went off at turn four as rain fell on the track after his first lap in Q3. He described how he tried to escape from the gravel trap but succeeded only in getting his Mercedes stuck, which meant the session had to be red-flagged.
“I lost the rear and I booted it,” he explained afterwards. “I wanted to do a 360 and then dug the rears in the gravel. So probably not the wisest choice I ever made. But as it turned out we knew that first lap was it all.”
Russell had set a 1’12.059 with his first attempt which put him third on the grid. With the rain continuing to fall as his car was recovered, no one was able to improve their time after the session restarted. Kevin Magnussen therefore took an unexpected pole position ahead of Max Verstappen.
Russell admitted he had “mixed emotions” after taking third. “We were obviously one of the last cars to go out in qualifying and it was such a unique experience because as the lap progressed the rain was falling harder and harder. I got to the last corner and it was a lot wetter than it was the lap before. You had to be really tentative.”
He expects his car won’t require any significant repairs ahead of tomorrow’s sprint race, which will decide the starting order for the grand prix.
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“There should be no damage,” he said. “I’m always a bit tentative when it’s been lifted onto the tow truck. And there’s a lot of gravel So the guys are going to have to take the car to pieces tonight just to make sure we’ve got all the gravel out. But it should be okay.”
Russell was delighted to see Magnussen take an unexpected pole position for Haas. “Massive congrats to Kevin and Haas,” he said. “This is what Formula 1 and sport is about – to have some crazy results like this.
“But for us P3 is a good place to start for the sprint tomorrow.”
His team mate Lewis Hamilton was one of two drivers who left the pits after Q3 restarted to assess the conditions, which were far too wet for any improvement to be possible.
“I just went out to see what the conditions were like but obviously it was properly wet,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton was the last driver to set a time in Q3 and will start the sprint race from eighth on the grid. “It was just difficult to see the…
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