George Russell vents fury at Mercedes after missing out on pole in Sao Paulo
Russell was told by his team to back off on his final flying lap at Interlagos.
George Russell was again left furious with his Mercedes team after being pipped to pole for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix by Lando Norris.
Norris, deposed as world champion by Kimi Antonelli last weekend, conquered thunderstorms to clinch an impressive pole as the rain poured down.
Russell was facing a five-place grid penalty due to an engine change but was still determined to land pole as he and Norris slugged it out. But he was told to back off on his final flying lap before the rain worsened and his chance had gone.
“You told me to back off, what the hell?” Russell bellowed on the radio. Team principal Toto Wolff tried to calm his driver by saying: “George, you are p2.”
That seemed to make matters worse, as Russell barked: “P2? I don’t want to be P2, I want to be P1!”
It adds to a season of frustration for pre-season title favourite Russell, having had to watch 20-year-old team-mate Antonelli storm to the title while he says he had been undone by issues in 14 of the 20 weekends prior to this.
“Congrats to Lando but that was a pole lap and a misjudgement on our side,” Russell said.
“For me personally, given the circumstances of last week, it would have meant a lot to me to take pole today.
“I missed it last week by nine milliseconds, but that was a real surprise. Today I really felt every lap I was doing was… I was at the top of the leaderboard most laps I completed.
“So yeah, I’m really disappointed with how that panned out. In the scheme of things, it doesn’t change a huge amount.”
Russell was asked about the message from Wolff but played down any frustration over it.
“When you’re a driver, you’re the one who feels it the most,” he added.
“You’ve got to remember, we collectively made a misjudgement today. And there’s members of my team who are going to be feeling as bad as I am currently. So it’s important to remember that and we need to just keep the morale high.
“There’s no point for pole, but it would have just been a nice little one to add to the tally.”
Wolff admitted in a video posted by Mercedes they may have made the wrong call with Russell behind Alex Albon on track, saying: “George was absolutely the quickest and should have been on pole. We are trying to do our best, I’m not sure we should have aborted the lap.”
Russell will start seventh, one of a number of drivers hit by grid drops. Lewis Hamilton received a 10-place penalty but his new engine began smoking during practice and Ferrari ultimately had to change his entire power unit.
He will start from the back alongside Max Verstappen, while Charles Leclerc starts 14th after his 10-place drop.
Liam Lawson, whose Racing Bulls future remains in doubt, will start from a remarkable third – a place behind Antonelli – with Nico Hulkenberg, Isack Hadjar and Ollie Bearman ahead of Russell.
But it was Norris who showed his world champion class to sit proudly on top spot as he bids to join the battle for second in the championship.
“There are conditions where you feel like you can make a little bit more of a difference at times, for sure,” Norris said.
“I’m against good guys who also have the capabilities to go for pole. And today we managed to do it because I put two good laps together.
“I think it’s just a good thing for me to know that when I have that opportunity, I can make the most of it like today.
“When I have the three opportunities in the middle of the season to be on pole, to win races, we did every time.”