George Russell offers evidence for Mercedes Hungary struggle: 'Not a car problem'

George Russell has offered an explanation for Mercedes' pace struggle at this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, insisting it is "not a car problem".

The Briton endured a frustrating qualifying session, which ended with him pulling to the side of the circuit following a sudden water leak in Q3.

As a result of the water leak, liquid sprayed over Russell's rear tyres, leaving him seventh in qualifying. However, he will start from sixth due to Kimi Antonelli dropping back because of a grid penalty.

Unfortunately, as a result of the water leak, Mercedes has been forced to change the King's Lynn-born driver's power unit, putting further pressure on his engine pool.

"We just had a water leak," Russell told select media, including RacingNews365. "I hit a bump at Turn 4, but it was feeling good until then, and then suddenly the lap wasn't. So I didn't think much of it. 

"The team told me the water was spraying over my tyres because, as soon as we saw the water leak in the data, my rear tyre temperatures suddenly got really low. 

"So I don't think much more was possible. The top three definitely wasn't possible, but maybe a few positions would have been."

While Russell had no chance of pole, Mercedes' race pace has looked very promising, particularly in second practice, where it had the strongest long-run pace.

Russell believes this proves the issue is tyre-related rather than car-related, with him hoping Mercedes' set-up results in the optimum tyre temperatures for the race rather than qualifying.

Discussing his race pace, Russell said: "Well, I think our assessment after FP2 was that we were seven-tenths off in qualifying pace, and we had the quickest race pace. So that tells you it's not a car problem; it's a tyre problem. 

"I guess we'll answer that question in the race if we struck the right balance between tyre warm-up for qualifying and the race. But starting from P7, it'll be difficult."