George Russell reveals cause of deficit to Kimi Antonelli

George Russell has explained why he was off the front-running pace of Kimi Antonelli during sprint qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix.

The British driver will start the shortened race in Florida in fifth, whilst his Mercedes team-mate will lead the pack away after storming to a sensational pole.

In doing so, the 18-year-old became the youngest driver in F1 history to claim a pole position of any description, beating Sebastian Vettel's long-standing record by two-and-a half years.

Antonelli has generally found himself two-to-four tenths of a second slower than Russell in qualifying so far this season, and it is the first time the Italian rookie has finished ahead of the three-time grand prix winner in any grid-setting session all year, going three tenths quicker at the Miami International Circuit.

Reflecting on his day, Russell contextualised the gap, which amounted to a considerable swing in performance between the pair.

"Firstly, massive congrats to Kimi," he said of his team-mate. "Really pleased to see. He did an amazing job. He's been really quick all day, really impressive.

"I've been struggling a little bit, little bit off the pace, not been so comfortable, and we just wanted to go on the early side, because ultimately I didn't quite have that confidence.

"And we thought maybe if there's a yellow or red at the end of a session, it will come our way.

"But yeah, P5, not great, more to improve, but amazing for Kimi and the team."

Conflicted emotions

In addition to setting his lap time early, on a circuit that was evolving quickly, the 27-year-old highlighted how he had not been in the "groove" so far this weekend, despite there been evident pace in the W16.

"These sprint race weekends are challenging, and if you get in the groove early, you can just build from there, and all day, I just haven't quite felt it in the car, especially the tyres sliding around a bit," he stated.

"But as I said, it's a sprint race. Obviously disappointed not to be further up the grid, but really happy for Kimi."

The Mercedes driver still had enough to out-qualify the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, and will start the sprint just behind Max Verstappen, who also set his lap early.

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