Las Vegas Grand Prix pole winner George Russell thought he ruined his session by hitting the wall on the run before he set the session-topping time.
The Mercedes driver snatched pole position from Carlos Sainz Jnr by just under a tenth of a second after being the last driver to set a time in Q3.
But his team had to replace his front wing after Russell brushed the wall at the exit of turn five on his first flying lap. He admitted he was nervous he might not be able to make it back on track in time to complete his final run.
“It feels incredible to be back on pole,” he said. “We’ve been so quick all weekend and I just knew coming into that last Q3 lap, that’s going to be one that counts. It doesn’t matter what’s happened before then.
“I had a bit of a moment on my first run, we had to change the front wing, so there was a moment where I thought we weren’t going to make the flag. But I’m just so happy.”
Mercedes’ pace this weekend was unexpected, Russell admitted. “We’ve got to do some deep diving to understand why we’ve been so quick so far this weekend, because I was really surprised.”
It was Russell’s third pole position of the season after he took the top spot on the grid in Montreal and Silverstone. Russell has won just a single race win this year, in Austria, and lost another potential victory when he was disqualified at Spa-Francorchamps.
After showing good pace over the weekend, Russell says he is pleased to have capitalised on the car’s potential. But he stressed Mercedes need to be able to convert the pole position into victory on Saturday.
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“Obviously, you’ve got to put it on the table sometimes. I felt confident in myself, I knew if I did a clean lap it would be enough to secure a front row. So to get pole position, it’s incredible.
“But ultimately, we’ve had a few good qualifying [sessions] recently, we need to convert that into a win now.”
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2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix
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