Russell was confident of pole: "I was a tenth ahead"

Russell thought he was going for pole 

According to Russell, pole would have been "absolutely possible" for him, but he ruined it by making a mistake on his last flying lap in Q3. "I'm really disappointed to have missed it. The car felt good, but in Q1 I struggled to get into the rhythm. That was a bit disappointing," the Mercedes driver analysed his qualifying.

In Q2, Russell fared better and in his final flying lap of Q3, he started with a fastest first sector, but could not finish. "I was a tenth ahead and thought: here we go, it's coming to me now. One corner later it all disappeared," he continued.

"I lost two-tenths, gained it back but I made another mistake by overdriving. Surprised to be second with how scrappy Q3 was on my behalf," he adds. Russell takes as a positive that Mercedes looks competitive for Sunday's race, but fears he will fall short of victory.

"We definitely have the car to fight them, the straight-line speed is less here. Not enough that we can out-drag Max into turn one, but we have a real chance tomorrow so will be an exciting race," Russell said.