Russell explains ‘really difficult’ Qualifying in Japan as he admits car was ‘transformed for the worse’

George Russell has shared an insight into the issues behind his “really difficult” Qualifying at the Japanese Grand Prix, with the Briton admitting that a small adjustment appeared to have “transformed” his car “for the worse”.

After setting the pace during Friday’s first practice hour, Russell looked unable to match Mercedes team mate Kimi Antonelli on Saturday, the Italian topping Free Practice 3 before going on to secure pole position in Qualifying.

Russell had to settle for P2, with his effort being nearly three-tenths adrift of Antonelli’s pole-setting time, and the 28-year-old conceded later on that he and the team are still trying to establish the exact cause of his problems.

When asked what had happened, Russell answered: “Right now we don’t really know, to be honest. We made a small adjustment to the rear suspension going into Qualifying, and it’s tiny, and suddenly the car was transformed for the worse.

“Then I started getting these weird vibrations from the rear, so I’m hoping something was not right and we’re able to solve it, but it was really odd.”

To make matters worse, Russell admitted that the issue did not improve through the session, explaining that he instead “got used to it and drove around it”.

“I could then adjust the front wing to compensate,” he continued. “But the car was just totally out of balance from the entry of the corners to the mid-corner, because the rear was moving around on the entry so I had to drop loads of front wing, and then I was getting understeer at the apex.

“A really difficult session – a bit annoying because it’s been two weeks in a row now. In China I was much more competitive and then it went wrong in Q3; here I felt pretty confident after practice and then it was wrong. It was bad for the whole session, so I need to get on top of it.”

Antonelli and Russell will line up ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri come race day at Suzuka, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc also starts just behind in fourth.