George Russell acknowledged that his disappointing Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying result was his “toughest Saturday of the year” so far.
Russell, who trails Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli by 66 points at the top of the standings with eight rounds remaining, appeared to have flipped the script with his convincing win in Azerbaijan last weekend.
However, the Briton was never in contention at the top of the leaderboard throughout qualifying in Malaysia – hosting the Bahrain GP this year – on Saturday and only qualified eighth-fastest. He will start seventh, courtesy of Isack Hadjar’s grid penalty.
With time running out on his championship challenge and with Antonelli starting tomorrow’s race in third, a measured Russell admitted his frustration at his first time competing in F1 at the Sepang International Circuit.
“We've struggled today and that is reflected by what was our toughest Saturday of the year,” he said. “It is so hot here and the tarmac is very aggressive, with the low grip making lap times several seconds slower than when we last raced here in 2017.
“That may have impacted our performance comparatively to what we have seen at other circuits, but it is true to say that we have clearly suffered more than our closest competitors this weekend. We didn't expect to struggle this much here in Malaysia, and we will work hard to understand why.”
Notably, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton – two drivers who have previously raced at Sepang – will start on the front row as the Red Bull driver claimed his first pole position of the season.
“Whilst we are frustrated by our performance today, tomorrow will be a very different challenge,” Russell added.
“The race is likely to be dominated by high tyre degradation and keeping the tyres in good shape across a full stint will be the key to a good grand prix.
“Whilst we have ground to make up, we know it should be possible to overtake if you have the speed so we will be giving it our all to make up ground.”
Antonelli, meanwhile, said he was satisfied with the second row on the grid after a difficult qualifying session overall.
“I don't think we could have challenged Max (Verstappen) for pole,” the Italian said. “He has looked like the quickest car all weekend and so it proved today.
“P3 is not a bad place to be starting from all things considered. The tyre degradation is likely to be very high and, in all probability, it will be a multi-stop race. That will hopefully open up opportunities for us if we have good race pace.
“There is still the possibility of rain too which could make things even more exciting so I'm looking forward to tomorrow.”
