'Angry' Russell Rues Q1 Knockout In Budapest: 'Total Disaster'

Saturday, 20 July 2024 at 20:00

George Russell showed how angry he was following the failed qualifying session for the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Mercedes driver George Russell, who scored pole position in Hungary just two years ago, was already knocked out of Saturday's qualifying session in Q1.

Why? The Q1 was interrupted by Sergio Perez's crash, which triggered a red flag. During this period, a track got wet from a very light rain.

Russell was among the first few cars to go out on the track right after the red flag ended. However, he and his team didn't handle this situation well strategy-wise.

The British driver put in flying laps while the track was still too wet and drying up, and when it was fastest in the end, he ran out of fuel and had to pit.

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Other drivers who went out on the track later then overtook the 26-year-old and knocked him out of the top 15. Ultimately, Russell qualified in P17. He told the media after the race:

"You can never take your eye off the ball, and we need to have a proper sit down as a team to understand what is going on."

"We have a car to be fighting for the top three; we shouldn't be standing here out in Q1, and Lewis only just through into Q3."

Mercedes now has a car that can fight for race wins, according to the words of Lewis Hamilton (who qualified in P5) which is why Russell feels even more angry about his result.

Starting from P17, it will be tough for the Mercedes driver to get into the top ten, not to mention even P10 is still far from where he wanted to finish this weekend. He added: