Russell preparing for ‘damage limitation’ in Austria as he admits progress from P5 would be ‘strong result’

George Russell is expecting to face a race of “damage limitation” at the Austrian Grand Prix after qualifying in P5 on the grid, with the Briton conceding that Mercedes knew they “weren’t going to be that competitive” at the Red Bull Ring.

Off the back of their strongest outing of the season in Canada – which saw Russell claim pole position before taking victory on race day – the Silver Arrows have not fared as well so far in Spielberg, the increasingly warm conditions being just one factor that does not suit the W16.

Asked if he was relatively pleased to secure fifth place in Qualifying – given the hot temperatures on Saturday – Russell answered: “Well I won’t be celebrating tonight, but I won’t really be losing much sleep.

“It’s the way F1 goes, we know the strengths of our car and we had a really strong weekend in Canada. But, coming here, we knew we weren’t going to be that competitive, with the temperatures, with the high-speed corners.

“The tarmac’s very abrasive so the tyres are just having a hard time, and that’s when McLaren come into their own and we fall back.”

While Lando Norris surged to pole position – leading the way from the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in P2 and P4 respectively, with the other papaya car of Oscar Piastri sandwiched between them in third – Russell is joined on the third row by Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson. The Red Bull of Max Verstappen, meanwhile, sits just behind in seventh.

In terms of who he expects to be fighting with on Sunday, Russell predicted: “I think realistically it’s with the Ferraris.

“I think Max is generally pretty strong in these conditions, like Barcelona and in Imola, so he’ll probably be coming back through, and ultimately we’ve just got to try and almost [do] damage limitation. Anything more than a P5 would be a pretty strong result but obviously, if there’s chance to go for more, we’ll be going for it.”

Two positions back from Verstappen is Russell’s team mate Kimi Antonelli in P9. The Italian appeared to be amongst those affected by a late yellow flag in Qualifying triggered by a spin for Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, meaning that several drivers were unable to complete a final flying run.

Looking back at his session – and whether the rising temperatures may have caused Mercedes to struggle more – Antonelli said: “I think also the wind affected us. It was a shame to miss out on the last lap, because I couldn’t complete the lap because of the chequered flag, so it was a shame. Hopefully tomorrow we can have a good race pace in order to move forward.”

Despite some of the difficulties so far in matching their rivals, Antonelli – who scored his first F1 podium last time out in Montreal – believes the squad can be more competitive on race day.

“Definitely the pace has been quite good, especially also comparing to George,” the 18-year-old added. “Also in FP [Free Practice], the race pace felt strong.

“Of course tomorrow we need to check on the temperature and we’re going to be in dirty air, so [that’s] a different story, but hopefully we can move forward.”