Critical Russell questions Mercedes 'risk-taking'

George Russell has questioned why Mercedes took such a risk in Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying as he ended 18th.

Russell was the big-name shock in Q1 at the Hungaroring being dumped out at the first stage 12 months after a maiden F1 pole at the same circuit.

The Briton was left fighting traffic late in the session as drivers queued up in the final two corners, eventually losing the chance to set his own final effort.

To make matters worse for him, teammate Lewis Hamilton snatched pole position for his first since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Russell unhappy

"The whole session, we were on track at the wrong time, the wrong point and taking way too much risk as a team," Russell told media including RacingNews365.

"The other car was so quick, we didn't need to fuel for one lap and go right at the end in loads of traffic.

"I was trying to respect the gentleman's agreement, got overtaken by other cars, most notably Pierre [Gasly].

"I was three-tenths down before I started and the lap was gone. I'm not going to blame any of the drivers as we are all fighting for ourselves.

"As a team, we should have done a better job."

Addressing the so-called gentleman's agreement, Russell added: "It was ever really there and in all honesty, I probably would have done the same if I was in their shoes.

"You've got to fight for yourself, it is a big four-and-a-half kilometre long track, and we're in the space of 1km with 10 cars, so we just need to look in the mirror and recognise we made a big f**k up."