Lewis Hamilton: Qualifying was a disaster

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were fourth and sixth respectively in qualifying for the Spielberg sprint. Mercedes drivers assessed their performance differently: while Russell was happy and expected to compete for the podium, Hamilton called qualifying a ‘disaster’.

George Russell (4th): “My lap in the final turned out to be quite strong. I was a bit surprised by the gap, but most likely I overdid it in the exit lap, I put too much pressure on the tyres, which didn’t give enough grip on the track.

This is the only explanation I have because the rest of the lap went excellent, probably the best of the whole qualifying, but we are behind. However, fourth place can also be competed for.

I will definitely fight for the podium in the sprint, but of course the focus is mainly on Sunday’s race.

Today’s result once again confirmed that we are in the fight. Apparently we are slightly ahead of Ferrari, but McLaren is slightly ahead of us. In any case, it is fun to regularly compete for the first places.”

Lewis hamilton (6th): “I did not participate at all in the battle for the first positions – the session turned out to be a disaster for us.

Training went well, the car drove well, but I don’t think we had the pace to fight for pole and the laps were very poor.

I don’t think overtaking will be easy on this track, but I will do my best. Normally the sprint is not the most eventful, so I think we will focus more on qualifying for the race.”