Cagey Russell: ‘Hamilton still struggling a lot with the car’

Russell is 36 points behind Hamilton in the world championship standings with the seven-time world champion enjoying a recent surge in momentum. 

Coming into the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, Russell denied the suggestion that Mercedes’ recent upgrade is behind Hamilton appearing to gain the upper hand over him of late. 

Russell’s struggles continued in Friday qualifying as he could only manage a lap good-enough for 11th on the grid for Sunday’s grand prix, while Hamilton will line-up fifth. 

However, the Briton was able to brilliantly recover from a hydraulic failure that curtailed his Sprint Shootout qualifying to snatch the final point on offer in Saturday’s Sprint race as Hamilton finished two places behind in 10th. 

“It’s been a tricky few races for me personally, not feeling too happy with the car, especially yesterday,” Russell admitted to Sky. 

“Today was a much more positive day again but a shame we didn’t get the chance to progress in quali with the problem we had. 

“Looking forward to Silverstone already and a fresh start. Go again and try and get some form back.”

Russell added: “It’s just one of those things where you get into a groove, a bit of a rhythm. 

“Lewis is still struggling a lot with the car. I think it’s just more that I’ve taken a bit of a step backwards. I’ve got some ideas [as to] why that is but it’s fine details.”

Asked to share what those ideas are, Russell chuckled before replying: “No, I don’t want to.”

Russell was delighted his gamble to be one of the first drivers to switch onto slick tyres during a wet-dry Sprint race paid off. 

“For me it was definitely slicks,” he explained. “I said the lap before, if this was qualifying, I’d be pitting now. The thing you don’t know as a driver is with 13 laps to go, are you going to regain those positions?

“I was happy to make that decision. It’s always challenging when you are in the slipstream of cars, getting all that spray, even when the track is semi-dry, you are trying to judge ‘is it dry, is it spray coming from the wetness on the track or just dampness?’

“After a bad qualifying, these are the conditions you pray for. If I was top five on the grid, I probably wouldn’t be feeling the same way.”