George Russell qualified in P5 at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday, in line with his expectations of Mercedes’ performance for the 2025 F1 Austrian GP.
After putting his car on pole in Canada last time out, the British driver will start in the top 5 of the grid this weekend. Speaking to the media after the Saturday Qualifying session, he explained that this level of performance was anticipated given the weaknesses of the W16.
“I think that was definitely the maximum we could have got. I think the gap to everyone except Lando is quite understandable. Lando obviously did a really amazing job all day today and that was probably bigger than we thought, but we know our strengths and our weaknesses and this was never going to be a strong race for us.
“I think it’s just a combination of everything. The track is hot, somewhere around 50 degrees. The tarmac is pretty abrasive, high-speed corners and it sort of all goes against us in the same way as everything in Canada went for us.
“We know where we need to improve, no major surprises obviously. It’s always a tough one to swallow coming into a weekend knowing you’re not going to be on top form.”
‘Impressive’ gap to the McLarens
Lando Norris qualified on pole position after being fastest in FP2 and FP3, and teammate Oscar Piastri will start in third after a brief yellow flag affected his final flying lap. The Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton qualified P2 and P4, which the Mercedes driver said was a surprising performance.
“Ferrari have been quite a surprise at their performance, but we know these conditions suit McLaren. The gap is definitely a surprise, but we know these conditions McLaren come into their own.
The position is maybe more than we could have hoped or this is the maximum we could have hoped. For sure the gap is pretty impressive to Lando, but we knew this was not going to be a strong circuit for us.
“Obviously we have more chance to fight with the Ferrari than with anyone else, and I expect Max to be strong tomorrow as well. I think the maximum we can hope for is maybe finishing where we started.”
Winning this weekend would be ‘a bit of a miracle”
With his hopes for a top 5 finish, Russell isn’t expecting to take home another win at the 2025 F1 Austrian GP like he did in Canada.
“We win again tomorrow, it will be a bit of a miracle. We knew coming into this weekend we had the high speed corners, abrasive tarmac, conditions that don’t suit our car at all. So it’s obviously tough to endure a weekend going, you’re not saying we can never do it, but it’s F1; you have a good weekend, you have a weak weekend.“
His teammate Kimi Antonelli will start in P9, so a double points finish may still be on the table for Mercedes despite the Red Bull Ring not being the optimum track for their performance.
