Russell predicts ‘six-way fight’ for victory at Silverstone after grabbing P4 in ultra-close Qualifying

George Russell has admitted that he “would have definitely taken” fourth on the grid for Sunday’s British Grand Prix when heading into Qualifying, after his and the team’s difficult start to the weekend.

Russell and Mercedes were off the pace across Friday’s pair of practice sessions in pleasant, warm conditions at Silverstone, but returned to the sharp end when temperatures cooled on Saturday.

A stellar last Qualifying lap saw Russell come away with a second-row grid slot, behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and the two McLaren drivers, and just ahead of Ferrari duo Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc – 0.229s covering that top-six group.

Asked to reflect on Qualifying, Russell said: “It was an amazing final lap. Every lap today we were… every lap this whole weekend we’ve been about five-tenths, six-tenths off the pace, sometimes even eight-tenths off the pace.

“Getting through Q1 and Q2 was a struggle, and then to finish my last lap only a tenth off pole, 20 milliseconds from the front row, I mean, yeah, I would have definitely taken it!”

With similar conditions expected on race day, Russell feels he is firmly in the mix for a podium on home soil, if not more – but reckons there could be half a dozen cars vying for the big prize.

“I think we can definitely push for a podium,” he continued. “Obviously the conditions are favourable, but it’s taken us from being off the pace to sort of being there or thereabouts – it hasn’t sort of propelled us to the front.

“I think it’s probably fair to say that we overachieved a little bit today, especially in terms of the gaps, we definitely overachieved. Ferrari obviously struggled on that last lap. Tomorrow’s probably going to be a six-way fight.”

As for Russell’s team mate, Kimi Antonelli, the Italian was some three-tenths slower en route to seventh position – but he will drop three places on Sunday due to the penalty he picked up for clashing with Max Verstappen in Austria.

“It was quite tight out there,” he said of Qualifying. “I’ve been struggling a little bit in the high speed, just struggling to feel the stability and it just killed a bit the confidence, to be honest, throughout the session.

“Not easy, but obviously tomorrow with the penalty we’ll try to do our best from there and build from there.”

Pushed on what’s still possible, Antonelli added: “Well, hopefully the race pace is going to be good. It’s not going to be easy because it’s pretty tight, but I think if we have a good start and play it smart then we can try to set a good pace and move forward.”