‘Up and down like a yo-yo’ - Russell frustrated by Mercedes’ Mexico form

Russell only managed eighth in Saturday’s qualifying after struggling on his final lap in Q3.

It did look like Mercedes would be contenders for pole after surging up the order in Q2.

However, it didn’t come together for Mercedes as Lewis Hamilton could only set the sixth-fastest time of the session.

Reflecting on qualifying in Mexico, Russell blamed poor tyre preparation for Mercedes’ lacklustre Q3 performance.

“We tried something slightly different with the tyres to get a bit more performance and just under hit it, the tyres were too cold and weren’t working,” he said. 

“It’s really frustrating this weekend because it’s been so up and down like a yo-yo. At one point we were the quickest in FP3, Q2 we were first and third and then in Q1, Q3 we were nowhere. I think that goes for most drivers on the grid. 

“I think there were very few drivers, probably Danny [Ricciardo], who was the most consistent driver throughout that session whereas everyone was up and down. 

“Unfortunately we were down when it mattered.”

Russell expanded further on how critical getting the tyres into the right window was to a good result, highlighting Mercedes’ form in Q2 relative to Q3.

“It’s not really down to the car because if you take qualifying as an example,” he added. “The car doesn't change at all, the only thing that changes is how the tyre interacts with the temperature, the out lap, a bit of traffic on your out lap. 

“It just transforms it. It’s really frustrating when it’s like that. 

“At the end of the day we got it wrong, others got it right so we can’t be throwing our toys out of the pram but it’s a real shame as we had  high expectations for this weekend.”