Russell 'over the moon' with sensational pole position

George Russell was left feeling "over the moon" after securing a surprise debut pole position in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz had initially looked on course to take P1, before Russell set the fastest time of all with a lap of 1:17.377, putting him 0.044 seconds clear of the Ferrari.

Given that Friday had proved to be a challenging day for Mercedes, Russell was thrilled to bounce back so dramatically.

"[I'm] over the moon, absolutely buzzing," Russell said after the session.

"Yesterday was probably our worst Friday of the season, and everybody last night was working so hard. We didn't really know what direction to go in.

"And then [on] that last lap, [I] got round Turn 1, went round Turn 2, Turn 2 was mega, and the lap time just kept on coming and kept on coming.

"I came across the line, looked at the screen and saw we went P1, and that was an incredible feeling."

Mercedes will "go for it" on race day in Hungary

When asked if the result means that Mercedes are 'back', Russell admitted that it is too soon to tell, but has vowed that the team will give it their all in Sunday's race.

"We need to look into it and understand where that came from today," he explained.

"There's a few ideas we had, but at the end of the day, there's no points for qualifying.

"We generally have good race pace, but the Ferraris looked very fast on Friday.

"We're going to be absolutely going for it, but either way, that was a pretty special day, no doubt."