<\/p>\n
Russell had been in contention for a fifth pole position of the season after setting the fastest time in Q1 and showing competitive pace during the final qualifying session.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, Russell\u2019s tyres overheated towards the end of the decisive Q3 lap, costing about three-tenths of a second and ending the challenge for pole. \u201cI was in the mix to fight for pole and, on that last lap of Q3, I just really pushed the limit,\u201d Russell said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI was about three-tenths up and then lost it all towards the end of the lap with the tyres overheating.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lando Norris secured pole position ahead of Kimi Antonelli, while Russell recorded the lowest qualifying position since the Hungarian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was quite a shame,\u201d Russell said. \u201cIt was really close between everyone out there and here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Russell appeared comfortable with the new circuit during opening practice, setting the fastest time before falling to fifth in the second session and sixth in final practice.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Performance improved at the beginning of qualifying despite Russell brushing a wall during the first attempt in Q1.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Russell said the car had become more difficult to manage as track conditions improved and lap times fell. \u201cI jumped in the car and felt very comfortable here, and confident,\u201d Russell said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the track has got faster, I\u2019ve been struggling to get the most out of the tyres.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Russell said excessive sliding prevented the car from carrying more speed through corners and contributed to rising tyre temperatures. \u201cI\u2019ve just been sliding rather than going round the corners faster, and I need to understand why that is,\u201d Russell said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mercedes will now examine the tyre problem before Sunday\u2019s race, with Russell warning that continued overheating could limit prospects of recovering from sixth on the starting grid.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Russell entered the Spanish Grand Prix weekend trailing Antonelli by 66 points in the Drivers\u2019 Championship.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Russell previously acknowledged that Antonelli had produced the stronger performance over the season and deserved the championship advantage.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–F1\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":28031,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-45344","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"George Russell blamed overheating tyres for a late loss of pace that left the Mercedes driver sixth in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring.","published_date":"","news_description":"George Russell blamed overheating tyres for a late loss of pace that left the Mercedes driver sixth in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45345,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45344\/revisions\/45345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=45344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}