George Russell turns finger of blame on himself despite dramatic Hungarian change

George Russell feels he only has himself to blame for missing out on pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix despite what proved to be a major change in qualifying.

Russell will start with what appears to be on the face of it, a superb fourth in his Mercedes given the team's struggles of late, but he knows it should have been pole position.

A dramatic shift in wind direction from Q2 into Q3 threw virtually all of those in the top-10 shoot-out a curveball they were unable to cope with, with the sole exception of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who was the only driver to improve on his second session time to nab a shock pole position.

Russell claims he lost three-tenths of a second after being caught out by the wind in Turn 14 when it appeared as if he was on course to take top spot on the grid, instead finishing 0.053s adrift of Leclerc.

"Q3 was a messy session," said Russell, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365. "We took the smallest step backwards from Q2. I was only a tenth slower than Q2 [0.224s]. Fernando [Alonso] was two-tenths slower [0.086s], McLaren six-tenths slower [Oscar Piastri 0.457s and Lando Norris [0.523s].

"So I'm not going to get carried away with my Q3 performance because, for the rest of the weekend, it hasn't been straightforward. Of course, Kimi [Antonelli] was also out in Q2, and it's not been plain sailing."

Expanding on what unfolded, and criticising himself specifically, Russell added: "The wind had shifted a lot. The wind was gustier. That corner [T14] was very different compared to Q2, but I should have reacted.

"I knew the wind was different, and I had much less downforce in this corner, but that's the reality. I should have reacted, and that's what cost me.

"But you speak with every driver, and they'll give you a reason why they missed pole, because no one did their personal best in Q3."