George Russell is perplexed by the speed deficit he holds to fellow Mercedes-powered cars at this weekend’s Formula 1 British Grand Prix after another disappointing qualifying.
The Mercedes driver will start Sunday’s race at Silverstone from fourth on the grid, behind his pole-winning team-mate Kimi Antonelli and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
It continued an already underwhelming weekend for Russell, who only qualified fifth for the sprint race before finishing fourth behind winner Antonelli, second-placed Hamilton and McLaren’s Lando Norris in third.
Russell is simply on the back foot and he is putting it down to his straightline speed struggles, as the Briton, who won in Austria last weekend, is lagging behind in the speed trap.
The data from Silverstone qualifying has him 17th-fastest at 299.8km/h, compared to 12th-placed Antonelli on 302.6km/h with Hamilton quickest by hitting 317.9km/h.
“All weekend we've been losing lots of time in the straights,” said Russell, who has Alex Albon’s Williams as the only Mercedes-powered car beneath him in the speed trap.
“Yesterday in SQ3, it was almost three tenths I lost in the straights. Again, today in qualifying, if you look at the speed traps, it's 3km/h down in the middle sector, 6km/h down in the last sector, compared to my team-mate and compared to the McLaren cars.
“The team are working super hard to understand why that is. We thought we found the problem this morning and we thought the brakes were locking on, but we're not convinced that's the issue.
“But it just compounds everything when going into the session knowing you're at a bit of a disadvantage.”
This is just one of a myriad of problems that pre-season title favourite Russell has faced this year, with him 43 points down on championship leader Antonelli at round nine this weekend.
Russell has simply struggled to build momentum, and Q1 on Saturday even saw the Briton bizarrely lock up into the barrier at Luffield– though from which he suffered no damage.
Regardless, he was never confident of achieving pole, nor for the sprint or grand prix, and is pessimistic of claiming his third victory of 2026.
“It just looks like I'm running more a draggier car,” he added. “If you look at the speed trace of qualifying yesterday and you look at the speed traps from today, it's the same.
“I wouldn't have been on pole, for sure, but I definitely would have been higher up yesterday.
“I've just sort of felt on the back foot coming into today and I'll do my best tomorrow to get on the podium.”
