George Russell has revealed he was close to not getting his pole position lap time on the board during qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Mercedes has been in hot form all weekend, with Lewis Hamilton topping both free practice sessions on Thursday evening.
Russell entered qualifying having set the fastest lap time during the final practice outing and continued Mercedes' strong form in the shoot-out session.
The Briton bested Carlos Sainz to the top spot by one-tenth of a second, while Hamilton had to settle for 10th following a mistake.
Russell was late to see the chequered flag having tapped the wall on his first Q3 run - putting him on the back foot for his final attempt.
“Absolutely not,” Russell replied when asked if Mercedes was expecting pole-winning pace.
“It feels incredible to be back on pole. We've been so quick all weekend, and I just knew coming into that last Q3 lap, that's going to be the one that counts.
“It doesn't matter what's happened before then. I had a bit of a moment on my first run, and we had to change the front wing.
“There was a moment where I thought we weren't going to make the flag.
“We've got to do some deep diving to understand why it's been so quick so far this weekend.”
Russell nonetheless made use of being the last driver to take the chequered flag, having voiced his desire to do so over team radio.
“You've got to put it on the table sometimes,” Russell said, reacting to the risk of the session ending early through a yellow or red flag.
“I felt confident in myself. I knew if I did a clean lap, it would be enough to secure a front row. So to get pole position, it's incredible.
“We've had a few good qualifyings recently, we need to convert that into a win now.”
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