George Russell did little to inspire confidence of a Mercedes turnaround in Baku this weekend as he admitted after qualifying: "We wouldn't really know what to change."
Russell missed out on Q3 by the narrowest of margins, qualifying in 11th position with team-mate Lewis Hamilton barely scraping through to the final stage. The seven-time world champion was able to capitalise on that to finish fifth in qualifying, but Russell had to settle for the sixth row of the grid after both shared similar struggles with the speed of their Mercedes.
Russell expressed his disappointment over the team radio, saying in his usual reserved style: "Ahh, sugar," after finding out that he had not quite made it to Q3. Speaking after the session, he gave the impression that he could not have managed much more.
