Russell puts his low-key performance down to “extravagant” setup experiments in Abu Dhabi

Having struggled for pace all through the Abu Dhabi weekend, Mercedes driver George Russell explained that his low-key performance was down to “extravagant” setup experiments.

With the entire field having found big improvements in the closing stages of the first qualifying segment, the seven-time world champion found himself in the drop zone. He was on his final push lap, and was on course to put in a good enough time that would get him through to Q2, but he came upon a slow Kevin Magnussen in the Haas.

The Dane driver moved to the side of the track to get himself out of the way of Hamilton, but doing so, he ran over a bollard which rolled back on to the racing line. Hamilton then ran over the bollard which got stuck under his front wing which saw him lose valuable time, and he eventually was eliminated in Q1.

The unfortunate incident could have not come at a worse time as Hamilton is completing his final outing with Mercedes, and he has appeared to be much more comfortable behind the wheel of his car than in previous rounds.

His team-mate George Russell found himself also in the drop zone at the end of Q1, and appeared to have held up some of his rivals, but the stewards elected against investigating his action ahead of the last corner. The Briton made it out of Q1 with his last flying lap and ultimately went on to qualify seventh.

However, he admitted he was confused about the Silver Arrows’ pace so far this weekend after the last two races which saw him win at Las Vegas and start from pole last time out in Qatar.

Reflecting on his difficult day at Abu Dhabi, Russell added: “I feel pretty relieved to be honest,” he said. I wouldn’t have said that going into the weekend, to be relieved with P7.

“We are really scratching our heads because the first three laps of the weekend in practice one, we were quickest on each of those laps, same as Lando [Norris], same as Lewis [Hamilton] – the car felt good.

“Since that run, we’ve been half a second off the pace, I’ve been behind Lewis all weekend. He was exceptionally unfortunate in qualifying. I’m confident he probably would have been ahead of me today. I don’t know what’s gone on.”

After Friday’s practice sessions, Russell has acknowledged that Mercedes has been experiments with “radical” set-up options in a bid to gain experiences for the upcoming season. The three-time F1 race winner claims that his struggles in qualifying might have been down to the unusual set-up work on Friday.

“We made it clear we wanted to try things this weekend because when you look at the last races, Qatar, Brazil, Austin – they were sprint races and Vegas is unique, it was the last chance to test things before going into the winter,” he said.

“So, we wanted to be more extravagant with our set-ups and maybe we’ll pay the price for it [this weekend]. I won’t lose much sleep over it. I’m just excited for the last race of the season.”