The 25-year-old did enough to secure a sixth-place starting position for Sunday’s race even though he was convinced he was going to finish the qualifying session last.
The bizarre qualifying session at Interlagos was ultimately decided by a one-lap shootout due to a storm as heavy winds, rain, thunder and lightning set in. And Russell gave the lap his all to finish one place behind his Silver Arrows team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Following the session, Russell intimated that conditions on the track had been dangerous as he explained: “Absolutely crazy, I have never seen a change of weather so drastic as that. I was really disappointed with my lap, I was just sliding around and there was no grip.
“I didn’t see rain on my visor, I was a second off and I actually wanted to pit because I was confident I was going to be last and ended up sixth. While it was disappointing and frustrating, P6 is definitely not a bad place to start. We did a great job, the car has been performing well here and then it is all about race pace.”
Ahead of Saturday’s Sprint race, Mercedes exhibited decent pace after opting against running soft tyres. And when asked whether a podium was within his sights on Sunday, Russell added: “For sure. Aston [Martin] seem to have found form again. It was surprising, where they have come from. I am hoping our race pace will be better than theirs. I expect a two or three-stop race, so all to play for.”
Russell has struggled to match his efforts from last season this time around and has fallen to eighth in the Drivers’ Championship standings after claiming just one podium finish all year.
Last season, the Briton finished fourth in the standings after clinching eight podiums. And the star particularly impressed at the Brazilian Grand Prix as he won the race and clocked the quickest lap.
So he’ll be looking for a repeat performance on Sunday. “We know when we put everything together we can beat anyone,” Russell said after his victory in Brazil last year. “When you do have Lewis [Hamilton] as your team-mate it’s difficult to keep on performing because he is just on it every session. I feel so grateful to be his team-mate because he’s really, really pushing me.”
