The Briton endured a frustrating time in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Friday after a mistake in the final race of Q2 led to his elimination from the race in No. 11.

But without being allowed to alter the car’s setup due to parc ferme rules, Russell was able to deliver a more competitive performance by earning a second-row spot in Saturday morning’s sprint penalty qualifying .

Looking back at the inspiring pace of the sprint shootout, Russell admitted to having some annoyances as it proved what he should have done on Friday.

However, it further emphasizes that Mercedes needs to figure out why the W14 only seems to be coming later in the weekend, especially in the third quarter.

“I have mixed feelings,” Russell admitted. “I was very happy with the qualifying work, I think P4 exceeded our expectations. But when I got back to the pit lane, I was like: Bastard! I still made that mistake yesterday, which shows what can happen, but you Can’t always be in your A game.

“But it’s an interesting question. We always seem to get better as qualifying goes on, we always sort of get into our own third quarter as the weekend goes on, so in the There are some things to learn there.”

George Russell, Mercedes F1 W14, leaving the garage

Photography: Andy Horn / motorsport pictures

Russell said Mercedes had some ideas as to why the potential of the W14 was never fully unleashed until the third quarter, but had no firm answer yet.

“We didn’t purposely build the car in this way to make it look better and better,” he said.

“We have some ideas as to why that happened, but as I said, I’m glad we turned it around, or rather, I improved my driving because obviously the car is unchanged from yesterday.”

While Russell made few complaints after the sprint shootout, team-mate Lewis Hamilton ended up sixth after losing a potential traction in his SQ3 race.

“The meeting actually went very well,” he said. “Q1 and Q2 went well, but on my last lap I just struggled with the rear end and I didn’t get dragged away in the end. Red Bull was leading too much. So it was a bit unfortunate, but I gave everything and that’s what you get can ask for it.”