George Russell was “angry” about his Q1 exit from qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, calling his drop to 17th a “disaster” as he appeared to go out too early in the latter stages of the session.
The red flag produced by Sergio Perez came as the light rain had intensified slightly and the circuit began to get wet during the 10-minute delay before the session could resume.
Mercedes decided to send Russell out on track to try and improve his time, which he eventually achieved and moved up to tenth place, but he soon retired to the pits when it became clear he did not have enough fuel in the tank to continue.
This left him vulnerable to several drivers who had gone out later in the session, and an improved lap from Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas condemned Russell to the elimination zone.
Russell said that while he took responsibility for his decision to slow down on his opening laps and thus miss out on the best track conditions, he was upset by the decision not to put fuel in the car for one more lap while the track improved after the stoppage.
“At the start it was my turn. I didn’t think it was going to rain again so I thought, ‘The track is going to get faster,'” Russell explained.
“I took it easy on the first lap and suddenly it started to rain and that was the most important lap. But it didn’t matter, the finish was the fastest and we didn’t have any fuel in the car to finish the session.
“I have no idea how that happened. It was a total disaster.”
George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, in the pits
Photo credit: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Russell said the team had been guilty of “over-optimising” and failing to take advantage of conditions as they presented themselves, and admitted being confused on the radio after being told he did not have enough fuel to continue.
He pointed to his exit from Q1 and Lewis Hamilton’s near-elimination from the Q2 field as frustrating, saying the team should not waste opportunities given the performance of their vastly improved car.
“You can never take your eye off the ball. I think we need to have a meeting as a team to understand what is going on,” he added.
“We have the car to fight for the top three places, we should not be left out of Q1 here. Lewis barely made it through to Q3.
“I’m very angry right now because we have a very fast car and we can’t waste opportunities like this. It’s going to be a difficult race. We can still make progress, maybe fight for the top six, but from 16th place onwards it’s not going to be easy.”
