George Russell has apologized to his Mercedes team after ruining his chances of securing pole position. The British star went wide on his final lap in Q3 despite setting the fastest time in the second sector.
The error allowed Max Verstappen to get to pole position without issue with Russell quick enough for second place. Russell yelled in frustration over the radio after his car swerved on the exit of Turn 12.
The former Williams star said: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” However, Russell’s first lap was good enough to beat his seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton by 0.005 seconds.
Hamilton also blew his shot at pole position after going wide of turn three on his first lap in Q3. This caused the race officials to erase the lap from him and put extreme pressure on the Mercedes star’s final race.
READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton explains loss to George Russell in Mexico qualifying
“I had this thought like you know what the lap is going to be and I lost the car in the next corner. So I was bitterly disappointed. I lost two tenths in one corner, then got it all back and was up to a tenth and a half up before locking myself in sector three.
“It was just seventy chaotic seconds.” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted Russell could have secured pole but admitted the team was still “not good enough” to beat the Red Bulls.
Asked if Russell was on track for P1, Wolff added: “I don’t know, we were the same before Turn 12, but they were really good in the stadium before, so we probably wouldn’t have made it anyway.
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