Russell was left "a little bit surprised at McLaren's lack of pace this weekend"

F1 Grand Prix, GP Singapore, Marina Bay Street Circuit

Having grabbed a surprise pole position in Saturday's qualifying session at the Singapore Grand Prix, Mercedes driver George Russell was left "a little bit surprised at McLaren's lack of pace this weekend"

Despite his crash on Friday, George Russell managed to bounce back on Saturday to secure pole position for the 16th running of the Singapore Grand Prix.

It was the Mercedes driver’s seventh career pole, his second this year, following on from Montreal, where he went on to win the race. Russell’s best time was a 1m 29.158s, set on his second Q3 run, seven thousandths quicker than his earlier lap that would have also been good enough for pole. This is Mercedes’ fourth Singapore pole, its first since 2018 and its 143rd in total.

Reflecting on his seventh career pole position, Russell said: "I don't know, to be honest. I mean, sometimes some weekends you just hit the ground running a bit sooner. Other times you don’t.

"I've found this weekend quite strange. The grip has been really high from the tarmac, but the cars have been sliding quite a lot. It feels a bit reminiscent of Miami, where it's really high grip, but the car is sliding.

"And I just didn't have much confidence in myself, and obviously the crash yesterday set me back again. But I always sort of remind myself, it doesn't matter what happens on Friday. It's Q3 when it counts.

Asked to analyse his the first lap of Q3, Russell revealed that he touched the walls at Turn 17 which forced him to approach the final two corners of the Marina Bay Circuit slightly cautiously.

"A bit more of a snog… in between the two. So, no, it wasn't too bad. And it's always when you're on a really strong lap and you just touch the wall like that, you're a little bit tentative going into the next corner because you just don't know if you've got a puncture or if the car is just going to spin out on you. And obviously, it's a very fast corner, but all good in the end."

Signing off with a word for his expectations for the 62-lap race, Russell added: "Probably these two next to me, to be honest. We know the McLarens are usually exceptionally good on their tyres in the hot conditions. I think we've all been a little bit surprised at their sort of lack of pace this weekend.

"We were probably all expecting them to run away with it, and we certainly didn’t anticipate being in the fight for pole position here. So, not sure going into tomorrow. I'm the only driver who hasn't done a long run, so that doesn't play into my favour. But, of course, overtaking is challenging here.

"Races have been a bit of a one-stop recently, but now with the 80 km/h speed limit in the pit lane, it probably brings it closer to a two now," concluded Russell.