Charles Leclerc’s poles in Formula 1 qualifying in Hungary had probably expected hardly anyone, there would have been another pilot who could have cracked the two Mercedes. George Russell had put two absolute sectoral times in his first Q3 attempt, but could not finish it in the last sector.
In curve 14, he had a mistake that, according to him, cost three tenths of a second. The wind was apparently to blame: “Yes, the wind had changed significantly, was significantly more bold. This curve was very different than in Q2, but I should have reacted,” says Russell. “I knew that the wind was different and just had much less downhill in the curve.”
“But that’s the reality – I should have adapted, and that cost me today,” said the Mercedes pilot, whose second run in Q3 was still good enough for fourth place. In the end, he was only missing 0.053 seconds on the poles – and that would have been possible.
Because: If Russell had driven the same time in the first run in the last sector as in the second run, he would now be on Pole. Because with the error, the Englishman drove the sector in 21.625 seconds – without errors in 21.303 seconds. Since Leclerc’s time was less than three tenths faster than Russell’s first time, it would have been enough for him.
“But if you talk to every driver, everyone will explain why they missed the poles,” he says. “Nobody drove their personal best in Q3.”
In any case, this was a chaotic session in his view because the times slowed down from everyone. While Russell lost two tenths, McLaren lost half a second. “I will not overestimate the Q3 result, because the entire weekend has not been really straightforward. Of course, Kimi also flew out in Q2, it was not completely round overall.”
Why only now the old suspension?
In Budapest, Mercedes competes with an old wheel suspension because the upgrade from Imola did not bring the desired success and cost the drivers confidence. But you can ask yourself the question: Couldn’t Mercedes be able to identify that much earlier as a troublemaker?
“I think Formula 1 is just extremely complex,” says Russell. “You can have exactly the same car, but on one route you are quick, on the other, slowly – and for very different reasons.”
“You have to test an upgrade on different types of route and under different conditions so that you can really say clearly: ‘That is the reason why we are good or bad.'”
Barcelona or Imola explained the team with the high temperatures where you always have problems, “but in Spa we were clearly under our expectations – and the suspension was definitely not upgrade”.
The Brit is unable to say whether Mercedes can now appear more strongly again in the second half of the season: “It has definitely been a bit challenging lately. I haven’t really felt confident in the car.”
“Sure, today P4 was a bit of our normal form again. But the fact is: McLaren was weak in Q3 – at any other point of the weekend they were seven tenths before all of us. They remain the measure of things.”