George Russell issues Mercedes engineer defence after 'wrong decision' frustration

George Russell has defended his Mercedes race engineer after being told to abort a flying lap in Q3 for the São Paulo Grand Prix, only for heavier rain to arrive moments later and deny the Briton a shot at pole position.

Russell ended up second in qualifying at Interlagos, 0.204s off Lando Norris's benchmark of 1m 27.470, but will start the race down in seventh after a grid penalty. 

Toto Wolff intervened directly on his driver's radio during the session as frustration boiled over on the Mercedes pit wall.

The 28-year-old had been flying before the call to back off came through, with his engineer telling him to ease up after catching Alex Albon's Williams on track, just as the rain intensified.

Speaking after qualifying, Russell said he believed another lap was possible before the rain arrived.

"Yeah, I think it was just a bit of miscommunication," said Russell. "I need to speak with the team because we believed we'd get another lap before the rain came in.

"So, I was on a really strong lap and I was asked to back off because I caught up with Albon, and then obviously the rain came. So yeah, it was very disappointing.

"Need to understand how it happened and why we got that wrong. But I felt very strong the whole session. Similar to Lando, I had more confidence in the wet than I had in the dry. But yeah, definitely felt pole was there for the taking."

George Russell not pointing finger at race engineer

The Mercedes driver made clear he did not blame the man on the other end of his radio for the call, pointing instead to the wider decision-making process behind it.

"They've got the weather forecast in front of them and I don't," added Russell. "And, you know, this is where you need that trust and you're relying on one another.

"Obviously, it was the wrong decision, and it was a decision that I think as soon as it was made, I think we knew it was the wrong one because already they could actually feel the rain pouring harder.

"So, we need to understand, you know, we're relying on a lot of systems, and we can't point the finger at somebody. We need to understand why we made that decision and whether our systems were telling us what we needed to know, because you're relying on the radar.

"But it doesn't make it any less frustrating for me, and it's not my engineer's fault. He's relaying information. He's ultimately the one who passes the message on, but he's got 12 people talking to him, giving him that information to relay on. So, we just need to understand why we made that decision."