Mercedes were forced to concede ground to McLaren and Ferrari in Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying, with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli experiencing sharply contrasting sessions at the Hungaroring. Although the team struggled to reproduce the level of qualifying performance seen at other circuits, its stronger long-run pace suggests the race could tell a different story.
Kimi Antonelli extracted significantly more from the W17 over one lap, while George Russell finished Q3 only seventh after encountering a cooling-system problem and continuing to struggle with a straight-line speed deficit relative to his team-mate. Mercedes’ race simulations, however, offered encouragement ahead of Sunday.
George Russell suffers technical failure in Hungary qualifying
George Russell endured a qualifying session to forget. At the end of the session, the British driver was forced to abandon his car on the circuit because of a problem with the cooling system. Mercedes will consequently have to assess whether the power unit needs to be replaced if the fault cannot be repaired.
Even without the technical problem, George Russell was unhappy with his performance after finishing Q3 in seventh place, half a second behind pole-sitter Lando Norris. It was another setback after the deployment difficulties that had already affected him at Silverstone and Spa.
“It’s frustrating to finish like this. The car stopped at the end of the in-lap,” George Russell said after qualifying. “Beyond that final problem, I’m continuing to fight a serious straight-line speed deficit compared with Kimi.
“It’s a situation that has continued since Silverstone and Spa. I’m consistently losing efficiency on the straights, and that makes my fight impossible. We still don’t have clear answers about the reasons for this performance difference between the two cars.”
Telemetry highlighted that Mercedes lost most heavily to McLaren and Ferrari in the third sector of the Hungaroring, particularly through the final sequence of corners. The deficit contributed to a difficult Saturday despite the team arriving in Budapest believing the W17 could challenge Ferrari at the Hungaroring.
Kimi Antonelli maximises Mercedes’ qualifying potential
While Mercedes were clearly inferior over a single lap, Kimi Antonelli placed himself in the best possible position for the race. The Italian had shown the fastest long-run pace across the second and third practice sessions, giving him confidence that the team could perform more strongly over a full Grand Prix distance.
“Our race pace in practice was very good,” Kimi Antonelli said. “The objective tomorrow will be to make a strong start and aim for an excellent result.”
Kimi Antonelli completed qualifying only two tenths behind Lando Norris and explained to Sky Sports F1 that Mercedes had made significant progress after struggling to bring the tyres into the correct operating window early in the session.
“We struggled a lot with tyre temperature at the beginning. We started from too far back in terms of feeling and had to make a huge step to regain competitiveness,” he said.
“In the end, fourth place is good, although there is some regret about the yellow flag at the end, which affected the final attempt.”
Mercedes’ race pace could offer a different picture
Mercedes therefore showed two very different faces on Saturday in Hungary. George Russell was left complaining that his car lacked performance compared with his team-mate’s, while Kimi Antonelli maximised what appeared to be a difficult package in qualifying trim.
The team’s main hope is that its race pace will prove more representative than its one-lap speed. Mercedes had already focused on delivering a cleaner weekend after recent setbacks, with Toto Wolff attempting to reassure George Russell before the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Although McLaren and Ferrari held the advantage in qualifying, Mercedes appeared more competitive over longer runs. That could allow Kimi Antonelli to challenge near the front, provided he converts his starting position into a strong opening lap, while George Russell faces a more complicated recovery from seventh.
The race will also reveal whether Mercedes can manage its rear tyres more effectively over a sustained stint than it managed tyre preparation over a single qualifying lap. If the long-run pace seen in practice carries into the Grand Prix, the team may yet produce a considerably stronger result than Saturday’s qualifying performance suggested.
Leave a Reply