Russell is frustrated "to come so close to pole but not quite manage to grab it"

Having delivered a series of strong flying laps across the qualifying session at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Mercedes driver George Russell conceded that he was left "frustrated to come so close to pole but not quite manage to grab it."

There were mixed fortunes at Mercedes in Budapest, with George Russell impressing with an unexpected fourth place after struggling across the practice sessions.

His team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli had looked the faster of the two in the third and final practice, but he lost his pace in the constantly-changing conditions in qualifying.

His first lap in Q2 on a set of used Pirellis was not enough and he had to go again The Italian lost his second lap time to track limits, although it still would not have been enough to make Q3.

Reflecting on his qualifying at the Hungaroring, Russell was left to rue his small mistake in the last sector which - according to the Mercedes man - cost him a shot at the pole position.

"It’s always frustrating to come so close to pole but not quite manage to grab it. With that said, I would have taken being just 0.05s off P1 in qualifying ahead of the weekend.

"Pole position was definitely in reach today. I made a mistake which cost me a tenth and without that, we would have been looking at the front-row. My final Q3 lap was also not my best lap of the session so there was more pace on the table.

"We saw today how big a factor the changing weather conditions and temperature were. It is likely that will also be something we see in tomorrow’s race.

"It’s been encouraging to see the step forward we have taken following the changes we’ve made here too. That, and starting from the second row, should provide us with an opportunity to fight for the podium tomorrow. It will likely be an interesting battle."