Russell: I broke the headrest, my head was bouncing round

However, and prior to his accident, the Briton had put in a banker lap enough for third place, as an increase in the rain intensity after the Red Flag meant no other driver could improve, handing pole to Kevin Magnussen. Lewis Hamilton qualified eighth.

Reflecting on his session, Russell said: "There were some mixed emotions for me in that session. It was a pretty unique experience in Q3.

"We were one of the last cars on the road, and as the lap progressed, the rain was falling harder and harder and it was a lot wetter in the final corner than on the lap before," he added.

Detailing what went wrong in his session-halting incident, the Mercedes driver explained: "On the next lap, I lost the car into Turn 4 and actually broke the headrest because my head was bouncing round so much; then I tried to do a 360 and beached the rear tyres in the gravel, which wasn't my best decision.

"There's a lot of gravel in there but the guys will have to take it to pieces to get everything out, so hopefully it will all be okay. Even so, P3 is a good starting position for tomorrow.

"I have to say a massive congrats to Kevin and Haas on pole. These kinds of unexpected results are exactly what make sport so special," the 24-year-old concluded.

Hamilton wasn't happy with his W13 in practice to start with, and end up qualifying eighth, as the Red Flag and intensified rain meant another run was not possible, the Briton even exploring the track on a set if Intermediate tyres after the session was resumed.

He reflected on a "difficult session"; saying: "It wasn't an easy session to predict the weather, and then it was getting so dark that it was hard to see the rain drops out there.

"We were among the final cars on track, so it was getting wetter out there on my lap compared to the cars in front. I think we probably lost some tyre temperature while queuing in the pit lane, so it just didn't come together on the one timed lap that we got in and the grip just wasn't there for me.

"We did a lap on Inter at the end, just to scrub the tyre, but the track was always going to be slower than when it was dry.

"So P8 is not ideal - but George did a great job on his lap, and a big congratulations to Kevin for pole," the seven-time Formula 1 Champion concluded.