Russell celebrates being ‘back in my groove’ after securing front-row start in Zandvoort

George Russell wasn’t too disappointed to miss out on pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix, with the Mercedes driver pleased to be “back in my groove” after qualifying P2 behind Lando Norris.

After converting pole to victory in the Zandvoort Sprint, Russell was firmly in contention to secure the top spot again, but ultimately lost out by 0.102s to a sublime final lap by Norris just as the rain began to fall.

The pair even raced each other for a short time towards the end of Q3, and Russell will be hoping to do the same in the Grand Prix whilst simultaneously keeping third-placed Kimi Antonelli at bay, which would help him further reduce his deficit in the standings.

“Lando did a great job, so congrats to him and McLaren,” Russell said after Qualifying. “It was a strong session. I thought we had it in there just to fight for pole, but P2 I'm pretty satisfied with, especially after going back after such a tough last few races before the break, sort of get in my groove again and try and fight with them tomorrow.

“As I said, I feel in a good place and just sort of feel myself again, which is really important. It was really nice to drive around here and these cooler temperatures made the track feel really fast, so it was a real joy for us all to drive and looking forward to the race.”

Antonelli understandably wasn’t as happy about his Qualifying result as errors continued to blight his weekend in the Netherlands.

Bouncing back from missing out on the Sprint podium, he very briefly held P1 before Russell and Norris completed their efforts but, despite his frustration, only 0.031s separated the Italian from his team mate.

Giving his verdict on Qualifying, Antonelli said: "It was a difficult session for me, overall. I always found myself on the back foot, and then the last lap I did a mistake in Turn 1, I lost a couple of tenths and it was my mistake. A shame for that, because we had a real shot for pole.

“In Q3 I thought we had a shot, we had a chance. But when I started the last lap in Q3, I saw I was two-tenths down in Sector 1, and I was like, 'this is going to be difficult', but then I was able to make it up throughout the rest of the lap. So, yeah, shame for that, but all to play for tomorrow.”