George Russell has revealed a late change to his qualifying method after securing a second-placed grid slot for the Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix, with the Mercedes driver admitting his “intestine” feeling helped him pull off a lap he couldn’t absolutely clarify in Q3.
Russell set a 1:16.523 on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, simply 0.009s behind pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and forward of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Kimi Antonelli and Crimson Bull’s Max Verstappen.
It marked a uncommon excessive level in what the Briton himself described as an inconsistent marketing campaign, with team-mate Antonelli set to clinch the world championship in Mexico Metropolis.
The King’s Lynn-born driver regarded comfortably faster than his 20-year-old team-mate, one thing he has been unable to say since profitable in Baku.
Discussing how the lap got here collectively, Russell advised choose media, together with RacingNews365: “Not simply in any respect, to be sincere. It is somewhat little bit of a narrative of my season.
“I feel this type of seems like I’ve by no means achieved a median lap. It is both a horrible lap or a really sturdy lap, and that is fairly irritating.”
“I do not assume there was a single lap this complete weekend forward of Q3 that I regarded within the combine to even battle for the highest three, not to mention pole place.
“However that final lap simply got here collectively actually properly. I would like to know precisely why, however I haven’t got these solutions. And, yeah, I am going to take it.”
George Russell insists he ‘by no means doubted’ private efficiency
Qualifying on the entrance row was an instance of what Russell is so simply able to when he’s feeling comfy, though it has occurred far too hardly ever in 2026.
Russell additionally defined a tactical swap behind his ultimate run, revealing he had pushed to skip the customary preparation lap earlier than his flying lap in Q3.
Requested about his change to not do a further preparation lap on the finish of qualifying, Russell defined: “Yeah, that was in all probability the most important factor that I modified. I noticed Lewis and Charles and Max as nicely. They weren’t doing the prep lap.
“We had been doing prep laps, simply getting the temperature of the tyre. It is fairly difficult. My intestine advised me we might do it on lap one with out the preparation, however the crew wished to do the prep, so we ended up carrying the gas for an additional lap.”
“You recognize, it is such a small quantity, nevertheless it’s larger than the hole to pole. So, it is clearly… you at all times assume retrospectively, if solely we had the one lap of gas relatively than the additional lap of gas that we had, we might have been on pole.”
“However, you already know, I am very grateful to be on this place as a result of it has been a troublesome run. And, like I stated straight out of the automotive, I do know it is in there. I’ve by no means doubted that it is in there. It is simply understanding why this season we will not obtain it as constantly as I’ve achieved up to now.”
