A Russell "on the moon" does not explain his great pole in Hungary

After free practice on Friday, the Briton was nearly a second off the pace of the Ferraris in eighth, while team-mate Hamilton was taken aback by how inconsistent the 2022 Mercedes was from track to track.

A third wet practice session didn’t help to lift Mercedes’ morale, with Russell constantly complaining about a lack of grip on both the intermediate and extreme wet tyres.

But George Russell surprised on his final lap of dry qualifying on Saturday afternoon when he set a time of 1m17.377s to beat Carlos Sainz by just 0.044s to claim his first Formula 1 pole position. .

Russell says that pole came after “probably the worst Friday of the season” but admits the team needs to look deeper to understand where his pace in qualifying came from.

“I’m over the moon. Absolutely happy,” he said after getting Mercedes’ first pole this year.

“Yesterday was probably our worst Friday of the season. And everybody was working really hard last night.”

“We didn’t know which way to go. And then on the last lap we went through Turn 1 and it was great, we went through Turn 2 and it was great too.”

“And the lap time just kept going out and kept going out. And I got to the finish and looked at the screen and saw we were first. It was an amazing feeling.”

George Russell, Mercedes-AMG, celebrates at Parc Ferme after taking pole

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell receives the Pirelli Pole Position award from Danish endurance racing legend Tom Kristensen

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Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell receives the Pirelli Pole Position award from Danish endurance racing legend Tom Kristensen

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Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Top three finishers: third Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Polesitter George Russell, Mercedes-AMG, second Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

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Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Top three finishers: third Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Polesitter George Russell, Mercedes-AMG, second Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

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Polesitter, George Russell, Mercedes-AMG

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Polesitter, George Russell, Mercedes-AMG

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Polesitter George Russell, Mercedes-AMG, at Parc Ferme

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Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell is interviewed after taking pole

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Polesitter George Russell of Mercedes-AMG celebrates with his team at Parc Ferme

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Polesitter George Russell of Mercedes-AMG celebrates with his team at Parc Ferme

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Polesitter George Russell of Mercedes-AMG celebrates with his team at Parc Ferme

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Polesitter George Russell of Mercedes-AMG is congratulated by Charles Leclerc of Ferrari at Parc Ferme

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Polesitter George Russell of Mercedes-AMG is congratulated by Charles Leclerc of Ferrari at Parc Ferme

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Polesitter George Russell of Mercedes-AMG talks to Charles Leclerc of Ferrari at Parc Ferme

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Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Polesitter George Russell of Mercedes-AMG celebrates with his team at Parc Ferme

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Polesitter George Russell of Mercedes-AMG talks to Charles Leclerc of Ferrari after qualifying

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Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Polesitter George Russell of Mercedes-AMG greets the fans after qualifying

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Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Polesitter, George Russell, Mercedes-AMG

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Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Polesitter, George Russell, Mercedes-AMG

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Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell celebrates his arrival at Parc Ferme after taking pole position

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell celebrates his arrival at Parc Ferme after taking pole position

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell celebrates after taking pole position

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Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell celebrates after taking pole position

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Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell celebrates after taking pole position

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Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell celebrates after taking pole position

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell is congratulated by FIA President Mohammed bin Sulayem after taking pole

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Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell receives the Pirelli Pole Position award from Danish endurance racing legend Tom Kristensen

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Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell receives the Pirelli Pole Position award from Danish endurance racing legend Tom Kristensen

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Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell receives the Pirelli Pole Position award from Danish endurance racing legend Tom Kristensen

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Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

George Russell, Mercedes W13, parks at Parc Ferme after taking pole

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Asked if Mercedes is now back after a difficult first half of 2022 in its W13 , Russell added: “I don’t know, to be honest.

“We have to break it down and understand where this came from today.”

“There are some ideas that we have. In the end they don’t give points for qualifying. But in general we have a good race pace, although the Ferraris seemed very fast on Friday.”

“But we are absolutely going to go all out. In any case it was a very special day, for sure.”

Prior to the Hungarian GP, Russell’s best qualifying finish this season was fourth place which he took twice, in Austria and Spain .

Russell’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton will start from seventh on Sunday after a DRS problem forced him to abort his final lap of Q3.