‘I’m struggling a bit’ - Russell’s honest admission after latest Q2 exit

Russell was knocked out in Q2 at the Red Bull as he was out-qualified by Lewis Hamilton yet again.

It’s become a common trend between the two Mercedes drivers, with Hamilton having the upperhand since their upgrade in Monaco.

Hamilton is set to start Sunday’s race from fifth on the grid as he looks to close the gap to Fernando Alonso for second in the championship. 

Speaking after his third Q2 exit of F1 2023, Russell conceded he simply didn’t have the pace in Austria.

“Just not quick enough today,” he said. “From the first laps in practice just haven’t got the right feel with the car. It’s difficult going into a sprint race weekend when you don’t have a lot of time to make some changes. 

“Let’s see what we can do overnight into tomorrow. P11 is not the best starting position but we’ve had some good results from further down the field so far this year so all is not lost. I think the tyre deg looked pretty bad in practice so we are probably looking at a two-stop race. 

“Need to understand what’s going on at the moment as [I’m] struggling a bit - especially on Saturdays.”

Despite his poor qualifying display, Russell is confident he will have the pace to move up the order.

“I think so,” he added. “It was in Baku where I qualified 11th on Friday and fourth on Saturday but unfortunately you don’t come away with a lot of points that way round but the race will offer a little bit more than we saw in Baku. 

“Not easy but it’s a long race on Sunday.”