George Russell facing 'big question mark' after 'very bad' Mercedes qualifying

George Russell believes "a big question mark" hangs over the merits of Mercedes' major upgrade for this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia after he suffered his worst qualifying performance of the season.

Russell could only finish eighth-quickest in a heavily updated W17, three-quarters of a second adrift of polesitter Max Verstappen in his Red Bull, and a quarter of a second behind team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who starts fourth.

It is only the second team this season Mercedes has failed to make the top three in qualifying, and for Russell, in particular, after dominating last weekend's grand prix in Azerbaijan, he was left scratching his head over the difference in performance.

Asked whether he knew why it had so far been a more difficult weekend than anticipated, he said: "No, to be honest.

"Obviously, this circuit is a bit of an outlier in terms of the abrasiveness of the Tarmac. The lap times seven years ago were about six or seven seconds faster, and at certain points on the track, it feels like you're driving on gravel, which is the same for everyone.

"However, it's clearly affecting us more than others."

In terms of trying to understand the upgrade and extract its full potential, and how much remains a learning process, he added: "That is the big question mark.

"If you could have done a direct back-to-back, it would have been great to know. But that's the challenge of this sport.

"If we'd put the upgrade package on last week, even if it was worse, we probably still would have been on pole, and we'd have been saying it was fantastic.

"Equally, if we'd had the old car here, maybe the result would have been even worse. So that's the challenge.

"As a team, we have yet to have a bad race this whole season, and this was clearly a very bad qualifying for us."

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Russell - There's going to be a lot happening

Russell, who goes into the race 66 points adrift of Antonelli in the drivers' standings, stated the numbers from the wind tunnel had indicated "an improvement" with the car, albeit recognising it is the stopwatch at the track that ultimately counts.

"Obviously, as a sport, we need to follow the lap times and not what the numbers say," he said. "The numbers look absolutely fine and in line with expectations. However, the result wasn't."

As to the race, particularly around a circuit where tyre degradation will be high, Russell, who will start seventh with Red Bull's Isack Hadjar serving a five-place penalty after qualifying third, said: "I think there's going to be a lot happening tomorrow.

"The tyre deg is huge, and race pace will be king. So, even though today was a real disappointment, it's not the be-all, end-all."