George Russell slams Mercedes after Lewis Hamilton humiliation in Hungary

22 July 2023 , 16:45

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George Russell was frustrated after qualifying in Budapest (Image: Sky Sports)

George Russell pointed the finger at his Mercedes team as he reacted to his hugely disappointing Hungarian Grand Prix result.

Mercedes were thrilled after the session after securing their first pole position of the season. Lewis Hamilton usurped his rival Max Verstappen to qualify quickest for the first time since December 2021.

It helped to mask the disappointment and frustration felt in that garage earlier in the session. That was because Russell could only go 18th fastest in Q1 and headed of an early shower.

Team principal Toto Wolff banged his fist on his table in frustration and Russell swore loudly over the radio. But that clearly wasn't enough to let all his anger out as he then took aim at his team.

"It's disappointing because we didn't need to take so many risks," he said, suggesting Mercedes made the wrong strategy call. "We were one of the few cars who just did one lap at the end, the car was more than quick enough to make Q2, Q3.

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"It's rare we make these kind of mistakes. It's what you deserve, I guess, if you don't do things right. We didn't need to be in that position at that time, for the whole session it just wasn't good enough from our side.

"We were fast, the car felt great, but the whole session we were out of sync with everybody and then I got overtaken by four cars into the final corner, one of which was [Pierre] Gasly. I was three-tenths down going to turn one, tyres were nowhere and it was totally normal that we went slower and didn't improve."

While he was clearly seeing red, team-mate Hamilton was on cloud nine. And the seven-time world champion seemed to be fighting his emotions as he reacted to a pole position for which he has waited so long.

Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole for the first time since December 2021 (Getty Images)

"I've lost my voice from shouting so much in the car. It's amazing, the feeling," he said. "I feel so grateful to be up here because the team have worked so hard. We've been pushing so hard over this time to finally get a pole.

"And a big thanks to the crowd, we always have an amazing crowd here in Budapest. Wow. I really didn't expect, coming into today, that we would be fighting for pole. So when it went into that last run I gave it absolutely everything. There was nothing left in it.

"It's been massively challenging for every single person in the team and there have been ups and downs. It's a big rollercoaster ride, but none of us have lost faith. We've all pulled together, united, to focus on trying to steer the car in the right direction.

"Today, we were losing time in turns four and 11 compared to the others, so I just sent it and hoped I stayed on track. It's been tough, and it's going to continue to be tough from here, but this shows that we're on the right track and that we can keep pushing."

Daniel Moxon