Mercedes’ newest post about George Russell right after Brazil GP qualifying has F1 fans buzzing.
George Russell says missing out on pole position for Mercedes at the Brazil Grand Prix was a ‘team’ mistake — and a lot of fans agree.
During Q3, with tricky weather conditions, Russell was in second place when his race engineer Marcus Dudley told him to back off mid-lap. Russell was very upset on the team radio, believing his lap could have secured pole because the rain got worse, meaning no one else could beat his time.
Russell has a five-place grid penalty for the race, but the mistake meant he qualified seventh instead of sixth — which could still matter in the likely wet race. He told Sky Sports that moment “sums up everything this season,” though in a Mercedes social media video, he sounded a bit more calm.
In the 40-second clip, Russell called the decision to back off a “collective” one. “I was definitely fighting for pole with Lando,” he said. “But together we made the wrong call to slow down on that lap. We thought the rain would come in 60 seconds, but it came much faster. I was obviously very frustrated then. It kind of sums up the season. At least I’m happy that every lap we were competitive. And I can sleep better knowing I haven’t lost my touch behind the wheel.”
Mercedes shared the post with the caption: “A frustrating end to Quali for George. He will start P7 but it’s still all to play for tomorrow with his pace this weekend.”
Fans had plenty to say about it. One wrote, “‘Collectively’ — but he clearly knew it was the wrong call.” Another said, “Poor George, he probably didn’t want to make this video.” A third joked, “You can almost see steam coming out of his ears.” Others noticed how carefully he chose his words, trying to stay calm even though it was clear he was still annoyed. One fan even couldn’t believe his line, “I’VE NOT FORGOTTEN HOW TO DRIVE,” after such a tough day.
Right after qualifying, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff told reporters that when Russell backed off, he was 18 milliseconds ahead of pole-sitter Lando Norris, with the hardest part of the lap still to go.
“It was a tough call, 50-50,” Wolff said. “He was also catching up to [Alex] Albon. I don’t think it would have been enough for pole, but George drove perfectly all session and deserved to be on pole. He was in a league of his own today.”