Mercedes’ George Russell believes his team “deserved more” after a strong Qualifying session at 2022 Mexico City Grand Prix.
Russell was on course for pole position on his final Q3 lap until he ran deep at Turn 12 which ruined his lap time, although he still managed to qualify second alongside pole-sitter Max Verstappen with his Mercedes teammate – Lewis Hamilton third on the grid.
Reflecting on a strong Qualifying after having topped FP2 and FP3 this weekend, Russell believed that Mercedes “deserved more” for their efforts in producing a “great” car for this race weekend, which he felt is “a testament to the hard work that has been going in for so long.”
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is a high altitude circuit meaning that drag will be less important on the straights, which has helped Mercedes on top of their final upgrade of the season which debuted in Austin, Texas, USA last weekend.
Russell therefore felt that “pole position was there” after Hamilton’s performance in Austin, which enabled him to believe what Mercedes were “capable of,” achieving around this circuit but the mistake left him “kicking” himself in what was Mercedes’ best chance of a second pole of the season.
Hamilton meanwhile saw his first Q3 flier deleted after he exceeded track limits at Turn 3 but recovered to qualify third, as he iterated the importance of “preseverance” in their fight to close down their deficit to Red Bull and Ferrari, of which they outqualified the latter team plus Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
The seven-time champion though believes that there is “still more performance” to be found as he looks to chase a first victory of the season, in order to maintain his 100% record of one win in every season that he has raced in F1 since 2007.
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