Why Russell has “mixed feelings” after “exceeding expectations” in shootout

After trailing Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton for much of qualifying, Russell left it late with a strong lap to topple the seven-time world champion and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz for fourth.

It’s a welcome improvement for the British driver, who will start Sunday’s main grand prix from 11th on the grid after missing out on Q3 by just 0.004s.

Russell admitted his strong performance on Saturday left him even more frustrated with how the main qualifying went yesterday.

“Mixed feelings,” he said. “Firstly, very happy with the job in qualifying. I think P4 is exceeding our expectations. 

“When I got back into the pit lane I was like ‘buggar!’ I still made that mistake yesterday and it showed what was probably possible. You can’t always bring your A-game and it was so close yesterday. It’s an interesting one. 

“We always seem to get better as qualifying progresses, we come into our own come Q3 and as the weekend progresses so that’s something to learn there. 

“Anyway, we’ve got the race this afternoon. Let’s see what we can do.”

Hamilton qualified sixth after failing to improve significantly on his final lap in SQ3.

• F1 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Sprint Shootout Results

Assessing his session, he said: "The sessions were going really well actually. Q1 and Q2 were going well. Just my last lap… I struggled with the rear-end with the last lap and I didn’t get a tow at the end, the Red Bulls pulled too far ahead.

“A bit unfortunate. I gave it everything - that’s all you can ask for.”