Mercedes’ George Russell was delighted with his improvement in “pure pace” despite qualifying fifth after a crash in Qualifying for 2022 Austrian Sprint.
A competitive Practice session saw Russell finish third and only 0.400 seconds off Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, which continued into Qualifying until he crashed at Turn 10 in Q3 with just over two minutes left.
Russell though admitted that Qualifying at the Red Bull Ring felt like Mercedes’ “best qualifying session in terms of pure pace”, despite both him and teammate – Lewis Hamilton crashing in Q3.
The ex Williams driver went on to admit that he believed that fourth on pure pace was possible as he explained why he crashed: “I could have been P4 this afternoon and I was one tenth up on my lap, and absolutely went for it because I thought there was a chance of P3.”
Russell though will start fourth in the Austrian Sprint Qualifying race after Red Bull’s Sergio Perez had his Q3 times deleted following a post-session investigation into a breach of track limits during Q2, which then ultimately saw his fastest Q2 time deleted too to leave the Mexican 13th on the grid.
The Brit nevertheless is still upbeat about the improvement in car performance as he added: “In terms of performance, there are positive signs. We have brought some things to the car, and the interpretation of some rules has probably been in our favour, too.”
Hamilton meanwhile felt “incredibly disappointed” in himself for messing up his first lap in Q3 before he then “lost the back end” through Turn 7 on his second flier, which sent him sliding into the barriers and he will now start ninth on the grid after Perez’s Q3 exclusion.
The seven-time champion proceeded to add that he was “encouraged” by his car’s performance as he believed that he could of fought for a top-three finish in Q3, which he didn’t initially expect pace wise but insists that it’s “a huge positive”
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