George Russell was over the moon and absolutely buzzing after securing his first Formula 1 career pole position after qualifying in Hungary, beating both Ferraris.
It seemed that Carlos Sainz would be on pole towards the end of qualifying in Budapest, but George Russell had other plans, as he was on his final hot lap improving, to take his maiden pole by the slightest of margins, after suffering with grip and tyre heating issues since Friday and during the wet FP3 as well.
“I’m over the moon and absolutely buzzing,” Russell said in his team’s media brief. “Yesterday was disastrous for us and probably the worst Friday of the season.
“The team was working so hard last night and we were able to make a big step forward. In Formula 1 there are so many fine margins and when you get in that perfect window, your car will just fly, which we managed to do in today’s conditions,” he explained.
“We didn’t know what direction to go in but on the last lap I came across the line, looked at the screen and saw we went P1, which was such an incredible feeling.
“We need to look into our performance from today and understand where it came from. We have a few ideas, but don’t fully understand it yet,” Russell admitted.
“Getting this result today is really huge for all of us. I’m so happy for the whole team and we will do our best to have a great day tomorrow and give it our all,” the 24-year-old concluded.
DRS problems for Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton lamented a DRS issue on his final outing in Q3, and felt he could’ve fought for pole had he not faced that problem.
“My DRS stopped working, which was frustrating after all the struggle we had to finally have the chance to fight for front row but then not being able to, because of the issues with the DRS,” he said.
“We did a lot of work overnight at track and back at the factory. The car didn’t feel good in FP3, but was strong in Qualifying. We didn’t know how strong our pace was and where it came from so it’s a very positive day for us.
“I will do what I can tomorrow to support and contribute to us in winning from P7 and I will try and work my way up. I don’t know where our race pace is going to be tomorrow, but hopefully we will be in a position to attack.
“Huge congratulations to George, it’s an amazing feeling to get your first pole position and it’s also huge for us as a team,” the seven-time F1 Champion concluded.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff added: “From the start of Q3 we had the tyres in the right window, the car was balanced, and everything came together well, with both George and Lewis getting more confident lap after lap.
“We haven’t been in the hunt for a win this season and we know how strong our competitors are so being on pole is a solid result for us and if we have the right pace in the race tomorrow, I wouldn’t rule out that we can be part of the front again and have a chance of winning.
“For Lewis, it was so tough – his DRS failed just at the crucial moment, otherwise he would have been fighting up there with George for pole position, no doubt,” the Austrian claimed.