After dominating the early stages of the 2026 F1 Chinese GP weekend, technical issues held George Russell back in qualifying as teammate Kimi Antonelli stormed to pole position.
Russell looked strong in Q1, finishing third. However, between Q2 and Q3, Mercedes opted to change Russell’s front wing after it sustained damage in the previous session, which had limited his lap times.
A few corners into Q3, Russell’s W17 stopped on track, although he later managed to return to the pitlane stuck in first gear. Throughout the session, the team performed resets, which appeared to have solved the problem, allowing Russell to head out on track just as Antonelli started his final lap.
Russell on his qualifying chaos
Speaking in the 2026 F1 Chinese GP post-qualifying press conference, Russell praised Antonelli’s record-breaking achievement while reflecting on the chaotic qualifying session on his side of the garage.
“Yeah, firstly congrats to Kimi, but I think, yeah, he did a really great job. On our side it was just a crazy session. From the end of Q2, the front wing broke and the team weren’t sure if it had broken or not. I was pretty convinced it had and there was a bit of stress around that and changing the front wing,” he explained.
“Then as soon as I went out on the track, I could tell something wasn’t right, stopping on the track, trying to restart the car. It didn’t restart, then it started later, got back in, couldn’t shift gears, and then obviously we just made it on track with seconds to spare. So really, really happy to be sat here right now because I could easily have been down in P10 without a time on the board.”
Late-lap surge puts Russell in P2
Despite the issue that ruled him out of pole position contention, Russell put up an impressive fight. The Brit climbed from P10 — with no time on the board — to P2, finishing just 0.222 seconds behind Antonelli.
When asked just how good that one and only Q3 lap was, Russell shared: “It was as good as I could have achieved, but, you know, I had no battery starting my lap and my tyres were cold.
“But as I said, I’m very grateful to be sat here right now. It was more a case of getting a time on the board. I knew Kimi’s been really strong and things were far from optimised my side, so it was more a case of get the car across the line and make sure I’m starting in a sensible position.”
He added: “P2 was much better than I expected. As I said, when I started the lap with no battery and no tyre temperature, I was expecting to be further down the order. So, as I said, just really glad to be here.”
Eyes on Sunday’s Chinese GP battle
The 2026 F1 Australian GP and the Chinese GP Sprint Race have both seen intense race starts with Mercedes and Ferrari repeatedly swapping positions at the front. “I hope so for us, to be honest,” he commented on whether he expects a different start at the Chinese GP.
“But it has been great opening few laps for the last two races. We know Ferrari are quick off the line and we’ve got them in P3 and P4, which is the first time of the season, and Lewis [Hamilton] was obviously great at the beginning of the race this morning, so I am sure it’s not going to be straightforward.”
