George Russell has blamed a lack of confidence in the car and a last-lap mistake for his deficit to Lewis Hamilton in qualifying. With Mercedes having higher hopes of a competitive weekend in Silverstone, many anticipated both Russell and Hamilton to be outside contenders for the front row. With both drivers progressing to Q3, Hamilton remained in the mix for pole position in the final moments of qualifying, but Russell seemed unable to match the front-running pace. Hamilton and Russell qualified fifth and eighth respectively, with Russell qualifying behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Alpine's Fernando Alonso.
Speaking after the qualifying hour, Russell cut a frustrated figure as he appeared unable to explain where the deficit to Hamilton came from. "I think as the session progressed, everything just got slightly worse," Russell told Sky Sports . "I had really good confidence in Q1 and we were in the top three for the majority, and then we didn't have that in Q3 when it mattered. "The car definitely had the pace to be P4 or P5 today. I made a mistake when it mattered on the last lap. "A little bit disappointing, but there is definitely promise there. The pace this morning in the dry look really strong."
Russell sets high ambitions for race
With Mercedes appearing to be closer to the front at Silverstone compared to recent events, Russell has high hopes for a recovery drive. The Briton was optimistic about the team's race pace and believed they had podium-challenging pace in the W13. "It's going to be dry tomorrow and our pace on high fuel could be on a par with the guys in the front, but obviously started down in P8 is not going to be an easy task," added Russell. "I want to get past Lando [Norris] and Alonso as soon as possible and try and join the fight at the front. I think there's no reason why we can't be in that fight. "[We need] a good start and, based on pure pace I see there's no reason why we couldn't fight for a podium."
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