F1 Azerbaijan GP: ‘We’re not fast enough this weekend,’ A dejected George Russell gives worrying verdict following Q2 elimination

George Russell was obviously dejected following his Q2 elimination which means he will start P11 for Sunday's F1 Azerbaijan GP feature race.

F1 Azerbaijan GP: ‘We’re not fast enough this weekend,’ A dejected George Russell gives worrying verdict following Q2 elimination

George Russell

Charles Leclerc will start the 2023 edition of the F1 Azerbaijan GP on pole position. Alongside him will be Max Verstappen, while Sergio Perez will share the second row with Carlos Sainz. Lewis Hamilton will start fifth, alongside Fernando Alonso. But for George Russell, he won’t trouble the front row of the grid at all. That is, at least at the start of the race. That’s because he will be starting P11.

Considering that he started on the front row in Australia, this is quite a disappointment. People also expected Mercedes to improve, due to upgrades. But no ‘major’ modifications have been made to the W13. Russell was knocked out of Q2 by none other than his teammate, and by just 0.004 to boot! It was the culmination of a rather struggle-filled day for the Briton.

https://youtu.be/-9L7PbxPNCg

Speaking to Sky Sports following his elimination, Russell sounded devastated. When asked how frustrating it was to be eliminated by 0.004, the Briton said: “Well, I mean we’re not fast enough this weekend. Obviously, I would have loved to have been in Q3, but I was giving everything. I made a mistake in my last one [lap] which could have just crept me in to Q3, but I don’t think I would have been able to qualify much higher than P8.”

FS Video

He continued, first proclaiming Formula 1 to be a ‘funny sport’: “It’s a funny sport, this one. Sometimes, you, know, go from qualifying on the front row last week to both of us, myself being out in Q2, and Lewis just getting into P10.” Of course, the race(s) are on Saturday and Sunday. There’s also another qualifying session. Russell added: “So, we’ve got another chance tomorrow, but not an ideal Friday for sure.”

Read More: F1 Azerbaijan GP: “We tried something different,” Max Verstappen remains optimistic despite losing pole to Charles Leclerc

George Russell “wasn’t feeling great” in FP1

Mercedes' driver George Russell
Mercedes’ driver George Russell

When asked if the lack of performance was being underprepared due to a single practice session, George Russell said: “I wasn’t feeling great in practice, to be honest. I would have loved to have done a few more laps. We were sat in the garage quite a long time, doing a few bits and bobs.” and further added: “The last sprint we had, we hit the ground running. We were flying every session, and this one, it’s been the opposite. And I think that’s the way it goes sometimes with these events.”

Indeed, in the last sprint race, Russell did exceptionally well. During the sprint race, he overtook Max Verstappen to snatch the victory from him. And in the race, he kept it, rather comfortably as well. His teammate, Lewis Hamilton, provided a late challenge following the safety car, but Russell held him off. And for his troubles, he won the first race of his career.

When asked how challenging the rest of the weekend would be considering that the car entered Parc Ferme, he replied: “I think right now, we wouldn’t really know what to change to find the pace we need around this track. It’s definitely an outlier compared to the first three races. Of all the tracks to have a bad qualifying, this is probably one of the ones you choose to do it, so I see no reason why we can’t fight back on Saturday.”

It’ll be interesting to see how the Briton performs for the rest of the weekend. He’s certainly on the backfoot now, but one thing going for him is that this result will not affect the sprint on Saturday. If he can do well in the Sprint Shootout tomorrow, he has the opportunity to score a solid amount of points during the sprint race. During the feature race too, he has that chance.

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