Russell is annoyed: Kimi could have given me a slipstream!

(Motorsport-Total.com) - This time, luck wasn't on George Russell's side. The Mercedes driver finished third behind the two McLarens in qualifying for the Formula 1 race in Barcelona, ​​tied with Max Verstappen, but because he completed his lap later than the world champion, he will start from fourth place on Sunday.

"I think the lap wasn't entirely clean," complained Mercedes Motorsport Director Toto Wolff on Sky . "Maybe there was more potential, but you have to be happy with the second row."

Still, it's fair to be frustrated that even a thousandth of a second would have resulted in a better starting position. Russell himself, however, would have liked to have found even more time and speaks of two tenths of a second being lost. However, Mercedes didn't fulfill Russell's wish for a slipstream from teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

"I felt we could have been a bit more aggressive with the strategy to get a slipstream into Turn 1," Russell explained his displeasure on the radio, which he had already expressed in Q3.

When asked about it, Wolff simply said: "We didn't want to do that." According to Sky expert Ralf Schumacher, such a plan is always critical and carries the risk of both drivers ruining their laps. "That was also our analysis," Wolff agreed.

Russell: He would never have driven a competitive time

Russell doesn't understand the argument, however, because Antonelli only had a fresh set of tires for Q3 anyway and could have therefore provided support for at least his first lap. "He would never have been able to set a competitive time with used tires. Even if you're doing the lap of your life, you're seven-tenths slower with old tires," says the Briton.

"I just felt like maybe we could have worked together to get a strong result in the end. The second round was the faster one anyway. But sometimes you have to risk everything if you want big results."

In fact, Antonelli's first lap was completely uncompetitive, while Russell's first attempt, 1:12.075, was less than two-tenths of a second slower than his decisive lap (1:11.848). The slipstream could have helped him, putting him ahead of Verstappen.

Antonelli: Finally back in Q3

Antonelli finished sixth and said it wasn't an easy session. "It took a while to get into the rhythm, especially in Q1," the Italian admitted. "I had to use an extra set of tires overall, so I only had one fresh set for Q3."

"The grip difference between the first and second attempt was quite large. I think there was more potential. Overall, the lap was okay, but with a few small mistakes. I probably also needed a slipstream into Turn 1, considering what others did. But P6 is okay, and we'll see what we can do tomorrow."

At least it was a better result for him than in the other two races in the tripleheader, where he was eliminated in Q2 and was unable to take part at all in Monaco after an accident.

He admits: "After weekends like these, you lose a bit of confidence. It takes time to get back into the rhythm. But I'm happy that I made it into Q3 and then P6. Of course, I always want to finish higher up – but after the last two weekends, this was a good way back."

Did Mercedes make the car faster for the race?

Russell, on the other hand, made it to Q3 with only two sets of tires and sees this as an advantage for Sunday because he still has a fresh set of soft tires left. "That's positive," he says. "But we're being realistic: We know the car isn't fast on Sundays."

Mercedes had tried to make the car faster in the race over the weekend by making numerous changes. "It's positive that we didn't lose any qualifying pace," says Russell, "but it could also mean that it doesn't improve race pace after all."

"Tomorrow will definitely be interesting. We had a lot of problems with the soft tire in hot conditions. But when it was hot in Bahrain with the hard tire, we finished second. If the tires overheat by ten degrees, it's significantly worse in the C4 than in the C1. This might be the small silver lining that gives us hope for tomorrow."