George Russell was confident in something more but, in any case, he still held onto his fourth place at the end of the race Austrian Grand Prix Sprint Qualifyingthe eleventh round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship. Against the splendid backdrop of the Red Bull Ring track, Mercedes was unable to confirm the good things seen between Spain and this morning’s FP1.
Pole position for the Sprint Race goes to Max Verstappen with a time of 1:04.696 with 93 thousandths over Lando Norris and 301 over Oscar Piastri. George Russell was fourth at 368 thousandths ahead of Carlos Sainz, fifth at 440. Lewis Hamilton was sixth at 584, Sergio Perez seventh at 1,322, while Charles Leclerc will be tenth on the grid tomorrow.
At the end of Q3, the English driver shared his feelings with the official Mercedes team website: “The soft tire felt very good and my lap was fast. I was therefore a bit surprised by the gap to Verstappen but, probably, I pushed too much on the exit lap. This potentially took away some of the peak grip from the tire. From inside the car, it felt like the best lap of the session, so that’s probably the explanation for why we dropped a little further back.
The class of 1998 continues: “P4 is still a good position to start tomorrow’s Sprint Race. We are fighting for the podium. Our objective is obviously qualifying and the Grand Prix on Sunday, but this is just another confirmation that we are on the right path and we are in the fight at the top of the standings.”
