Russell rues difficult qualifying as Mercedes faces power unit change in Hungary

George Russell admitted Mercedes was unable to match the pace of Ferrari and McLaren in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, with the Briton also set to start further back after a water leak forced the team into an overnight power unit change.

Russell was consistently a step behind team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli throughout Saturday at the Hungaroring, while Ferrari and McLaren established themselves as the leading contenders for pole position. Although Mercedes improved its performance compared to Friday, Russell ultimately qualified seventh with a best lap of 1:17.760.

His session became even more complicated in the closing stages of Q3 when a water leak developed on his W17 during his final flying lap. Russell completed the lap before stopping the car at Turn 1 as a precaution, with Mercedes initially hoping the issue could be repaired without requiring any major component changes.

However, further inspection back in the garage revealed more extensive damage than first anticipated.

"We expected Ferrari to be strong here this weekend and McLaren, with their upgrades, have taken a step forward," Russell said.

"So it proved today where we couldn't quite get ourselves consistently in the mix. It certainly wasn't the easiest of sessions. We suffered a water leak on our final lap, and we stopped as a precaution once we'd finished our effort."

The Mercedes driver confirmed that the damage caused by the leak means the team will have to install a new power unit before Sunday's Grand Prix.

"Unfortunately, once we got the car back to the garage, we found that the damage was quite severe and we will have to take a new Power Unit ahead of tomorrow's race."

Despite the disappointing qualifying result, Russell believes Mercedes made meaningful progress overnight after a difficult Friday and remains encouraged by the team's race pace.

"We made progress with our pace from Friday to Saturday, but it wasn't enough to get ourselves in the fight for pole," he explained.

"There were clues as to why we were struggling more on the single lap yesterday as our race pace was strong. That suggested it was more tyre driven than the performance of the car itself but we will only find that out tomorrow."