Russell predicts ‘six-way fight’ for victory at Silverstone after grabbing P4 in ultra-close Qualifying

George Russell has admitted that he “would have positively taken” fourth on the grid for Sunday’s British Grand Prix when heading into Qualifying, after his and the workforce’s troublesome begin to the weekend.

Russell and Mercedes have been off the tempo throughout Friday’s pair of observe periods in nice, heat situations at Silverstone, however returned to the sharp finish when temperatures cooled on Saturday.

A stellar final Qualifying lap noticed Russell come away with a second-row grid slot, behind Purple Bull’s Max Verstappen and the 2 McLaren drivers, and simply forward of Ferrari duo Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc – 0.229s covering that top-six group.

Requested to mirror on Qualifying, Russell stated: “It was an incredible last lap. Each lap at present we have been… each lap this entire weekend we’ve been about five-tenths, six-tenths off the tempo, typically even eight-tenths off the tempo.

“Getting by way of Q1 and Q2 was a wrestle, after which to complete my final lap solely a tenth off pole, 20 milliseconds from the entrance row, I imply, yeah, I might have positively taken it!”

With comparable situations anticipated on race day, Russell feels he’s firmly within the combine for a podium on residence soil, if no more – however reckons there might be half a dozen automobiles vying for the large prize.

“I feel we will positively push for a podium,” he continued. “Clearly the situations are beneficial, but it surely’s taken us from being off the tempo to type of being there or thereabouts – it hasn’t type of propelled us to the entrance.

“I feel it’s most likely honest to say that we overachieved a bit bit at present, particularly by way of the gaps, we positively overachieved. Ferrari clearly struggled on that final lap. Tomorrow’s most likely going to be a six-way struggle.”

As for Russell’s workforce mate, Kimi Antonelli, the Italian was some three-tenths slower en path to seventh place – however he’ll drop three locations on Sunday as a result of penalty he picked up for clashing with Max Verstappen in Austria.

“It was fairly tight on the market,” he stated of Qualifying. “I’ve been struggling a bit bit within the excessive pace, simply struggling to really feel the steadiness and it simply killed a bit the arrogance, to be sincere, all through the session.

“Not simple, however clearly tomorrow with the penalty we’ll attempt to do our greatest from there and construct from there.”

Pushed on what’s nonetheless doable, Antonelli added: “Nicely, hopefully the race tempo goes to be good. It’s not going to be simple as a result of it’s fairly tight, however I feel if we’ve an excellent begin and play it good then we will attempt to set an excellent tempo and transfer ahead.”