Qualifying was where George Russell gained an important edge at Mercedes in 2024, which he put down to his confidence rising in situations where the pressure is on. He ended up with a small but still significant 0.148s advantage over a driver with 104 F1 poles in Lewis Hamilton.
Their head-to-head split ended up as 24-6, with only Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas having better. From strong starting positions Russell was often best of the rest behind the McLaren/Red Bull/Ferrari battle, and picked up the pieces to win in Austria.
