George Russell admitted he does not know why he was so uncompetitive in qualifying at Sepang following his strong performance in Baku.
The Mercedes driver arrived in Malaysia in a positive frame of mind after winning the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from pole position.“Now feel in a position that my performances are strong enough to fight for victory week in, week out,” said Russell on Thursday. “Pre-summer break I was missing out in the championship but also I was also missing out on the performance every weekend.
“Whereas now I feel I know what I need from the car, I know from myself and I don’t really feel lost anymore. The confidence is back, it’s growing again. And it’s all coming a bit more naturally, which is how it has been for me in most of my career.”
He had high hopes for the upgrade Mercedes brought for their car this weekend. “I’m enjoying it more than I have done recently just because I feel more at one with the car and hopefully this new upgrade with a few characteristic changes are also going to play into my favourite a bit more,” said Russell.
However he was left disappointed by his performance in qualifying. Andrea Kimi Antonelli qualified ahead of him despite being compromised in Q3, where Russell had one more set of new soft tyres.
Russell will start Sunday’s race from seventh on the grid, four places behind Antonelli.
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“I really don’t know,” he said after qualifying. “It was a strange one out there today.”
“It’s the most demanding circuit on the tyres [and] we don’t exactly know why we didn’t have the pace. I think from Friday, it was clear we weren’t on the pace of the Red Bulls.
“Then throughout the course of this weekend, we just haven’t really progressed. The others have caught up and overtaken.”
However he remains hopeful he will be able to make progress in the race. “I think tomorrow the race is going to be a totally different story,” he said. “Very high tyre degradation, all three tyre compounds look viable, so I think there will be some opportunities.”