George Russell qualified seventh for the Hungarian GP on Saturday. It is the worst result of the year for the Brit, who was once again plagued by reliability issues. Although the problem did not affect his final classification, Russell acknowledges that Mercedes currently lacks pace compared to the competition. With Kimi Antonelli in P4, it is the first time this season that no Mercedes driver starts from the top three.
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In the final phase of qualifying, Russell encountered a water leak. Since he didn’t seem to improve his first fast lap anyway, the problem ultimately had no impact on the final result. Mercedes had to concede defeat to McLaren and Ferrari throughout the entire session. “That water leak didn’t really matter,” Russell sighed afterwards to F1TV. “We saw on the computers that water was being sprayed onto the tires. My last lap was therefore worthless; if someone shoots water at your tires with a water pistol, it certainly doesn’t provide extra grip,” he chuckled faintly.
“Honestly, we haven’t really had the speed all weekend,” Russell admitted. “Hopefully, we have set up the car well for the race. We will see that on Sunday.” When asked why Mercedes seemed less competitive at the Hungaroring, Russell explained that his team actually excelled in the so-called long runs. “During practice, we were already about a second slower in qualifying simulations, but in race simulations, we seemed to be the fastest.”
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Catch-up race will be difficult
“That usually means the tires don’t get warm enough for one fast qualifying lap,” he explained. “But in the race, when you want to keep the tires cool, that can work to our advantage.” Nevertheless, Russell doesn’t expect an easy Sunday. “Overtaking is very difficult on this track,” he sighed. “I hope the car’s balance feels better in the race so we can find the extra pace we need.”
The water leak possibly indicates a problem in Russell’s powertrain. If Mercedes has to replace certain engine components before the Grand Prix, it could lead to a grid penalty for the Englishman.
Read more Qualification result Hungarian GP 2026
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