George Russell delivered one of his better Saturdays of the season in recent times in a tense F1 Qatar GP Qualifying to secure fourth on the grid. He set the tone early by topping Q1 with a clean, committed lap, while others struggled with grip and track limits. In Q2, he stayed calm through delays and dust, safely progressing as rivals tripped up around him. Russell then opened Q3 with a strong first run that placed him third behind the McLarens, keeping Mercedes in the fight with McLaren and Red Bull. After the red flag, he pushed again in the final minutes but lacked just enough pace to get P3, ending the night as best of the rest behind Piastri, Norris and Verstappen.
Russell finds satisfaction despite narrow miss in Qualifying pace at the F1 Qatar GP
Slight irritation lingered for Russell, yet he still walked away content with his two laps, convinced he had squeezed everything out of the car. Over a season, he reckoned a driver only strung together a few truly flawless laps, with a handful more just a touch below that, and he filed this effort neatly into that second tier. Somewhere out there, he knew exactly where the missing hundredth disappeared, but he chose not to obsess over it. In his mind, the lap fell short of greatness yet remained a very strong one, leaving him with no real disappointment, only the feeling that this was simply the limit of what had been on offer that day.
“A little bit annoying, but I was pleased with my two laps, so I don’t leave feeling that frustrated because I felt like I maximised for three. No. I do know, but you probably do three perfect laps in a season, and then you may do ten very good ones, and this was in the camp of a very good lap. It wasn’t a great lap, but it was a very good lap. I can’t be disappointed. It was just where we were.”
Tight margins in Qualifying at the F1 Qatar GP frustrate Russell, but constructor goals take priority
Russell felt fourth place represented almost everything that was on the table, given how close the field ran under the lights. He sensed he had hooked things up slightly better in the sprint, and admitted the tiny gap to third stung. Still, he kept the wider picture in focus. With Antonelli backing up the effort, he saw Mercedes in a strong position to lock down second in the constructors’ standings, which remained his clear priority for the weekend.
“Not really because it was just so tight out there, we knew it was going to be tight. My lap prop yesterday was maybe slightly better than the one today, so it is annoying to miss out on P3 by such a small margin, but we’ve got to remember what our goal this weekend is and that’s to finish P2 in the constructors and between Kimi [Antonelli] and we’re in a good place to achieve it.”
Russell eyes attack mode for Sunday after strong Sprint pace signals opportunity
Looking ahead to the race, Russell targeted the cars in front rather than those behind. He drew confidence from his sprint pace, which had put him firmly in the mix with Norris and Verstappen. Mercedes also took encouragement from signs of heavier tyre wear on the Red Bull, hinting at an opening over a longer stint. Russell expected an all-out fight at the front but welcomed the clarity of a largely fixed strategy, convinced there was still room to attack and move forward on Sunday.
“Well it should be ahead, the pace did look strong in the sprint this morning, up there with Lando [Norris] and Max [Verstappen], I think Max [Verstappen] had a bit more tyre wear than we did when we saw the photographs of his tyres, so let’s see if we can move forward, I’m sure those guys will be pushing full gas, but fortunately the strategy is defined for us.”
Russell eyes tyre strategy as the key to unlocking podium potential
Asked if a podium charge looked realistic, Russell pointed to tyre wear as the deciding factor rather than outright pace. He noted that most of the field had already pushed the front-left to its limit, effectively logging around 25 laps on the medium once qualifying mileage was included. Strategy, he felt, would likely centre on a medium–medium–hard sequence to guard against the undercut, though some might gamble with the hard tyre either at the start or in the middle stint.
“Yes, I think a lot of drivers were very close to the front left tyre wear. Obviously, we all maxed out for 25 laps on the medium tyres today, when you account for the six laps that everybody did in Qualifying. Everybody did 25 laps on that medium, and that was very much the limit. So I don’t know.”l
“It would be interesting to see if people did a medium-medium-hard, which would be the most logical thing to protect from the undercut. You may see somebody put the hard on in the middle, or the hard at the beginning.”
Russell weighs Verstappen gamble as Mercedes consider bold tyre play
From Russell’s perspective, Verstappen’s position on the clean side of the grid opened the door for a bolder approach, such as starting on the hard and still beating those on mediums off the line. For the McLaren pair, the risk looked too high, leaving Russell to suggest that a more aggressive tyre plan might end up being Mercedes’ only real card to play.
“Maybe Max [Verstappen] potentially will do something different, considering he’s on the clean side of the grid. He’s got an advantage there, so he could probably afford to start on the hard tyre, and would still get a better start if I’m on the medium tyre. I could potentially foresee that happening, and of course, the McLaren drivers wouldn’t do that because the risk is too great. That’s probably our only option.”
Russell treats Q2 off-track moment as a controlled test, not a warning sign
Asked whether the track limits scare in Q2 worried him over a full race distance, Russell brushed off any concern. He had already banked a strong opening lap in the session and used the next run to probe how far he could lean on the car. Rather than a lapse in concentration, the moment came as a deliberate experiment to feel out the edge of the circuit. In his mind, it counted as a controlled test of his own limits, not a sign of looming mistakes.
“No, to be honest, I knew a lap 1 in Q2 was strong enough, and I just wanted to test my boundary. I was kind of intending to go off, but I wanted to know where my limit was, so it was more of a test for myself, as opposed to mistakes and such.”
