Great performance by the British driver on the Hungarian track.
George Russell achieved the first pole position of his Formula 1 career this Saturday in Hungary. After crossing the finish line at the end of Q3 and seeing that he was in first place, the Briton burst with emotion through on the radio: “Come on, guys! Yes!” shouted the newcomer to the Mercedes team.
Nobody counted on Mercedes for the fight for pole in Hungary, but Russell has given the ‘bell’ at the Hungaroring this Saturday. The driver of the German team recognized that, until today, Mercedes had suffered a lot, because they could not find the rhythm to be up, and on Friday the mechanics and engineers were working until very late to scratch until the last tenth.
The hard work has had its reward and Russell, in Q3, surprised with a stratospheric lap, stopping the clock at 1:13.377 which was enough for him to achieve pole position on the Hungarian track, beating Carlos Sainz by just 44 thousandths. who today outperformed Charles Leclerc to qualify for pole.
George Russell, you are completely insane 🙌#HungaryDAZNF1 🇭🇺 pic.twitter.com/fiDxUAtGzz
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) July 30, 2022
As soon as he crossed the finish line and saw that he had taken his first pole position, Russell burst into excitement over the team radio: “Come on guys! Yeah!” His engineer, moments before, had congratulated him with a “you got it!”. This is the first pole position for a Mercedes driver since the one achieved by Lewis Hamilton at the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP.
The seven-time world champion could also have been in contention for the front row, but a DRS issue prevented Lewis from challenging for the top of the grid with his team-mate and he will start from seventh in the race.
Russell was very happy with the media after winning his first pole position, but recalled that “the points are not distributed on Saturday”, and assured that he will go for victory on Sunday. Although the Mercedes’ race pace is expected to be lower than the Ferraris behind it, overtaking at this circuit is very difficult and George may have a chance at it.
