“It feels like we’re just riding the wave right now!” George Russell cheered after qualifying in Silverstone. Mercedes followed on seamlessly from its victory in Austria, and Russell put his W15 on pole position for the second time in 2024. Lewis Hamilton completed the work of art with second place on the grid. A lot of stress in qualifying was rewarded with an honestly achieved top result.
Because this silver front row – the first since Brazil 2022 – is not a knock-down result like the win last weekend. Pole co-favorite Lando Norris was fairly relegated to third place by both drivers. “The car was just crazy when it started in Q3, that’s when it really came alive,” describes Russell. Before that, things hadn’t looked this good for a long time.
Russell has to tremble: Every qualifying round just before elimination
Mercedes had hoped for wet conditions, but the rain disappeared in Q1. After that, qualifying was marked by a rapid development of the track, which first dried out and then became faster and faster. Not Russell’s favorite condition.
Mercedes tried to save as many soft tyres as possible in Q1 and Q2. However, midfield teams behind them had other priorities. “If you have cars that are just a little bit slower and you put new softs on all the time, you’re always behind,” explains Russell, who was only allowed one set of new softs in Q2. “The track improved on every lap and I think I’ve never felt as much pressure as I did in Q3 because I was close to being eliminated on every single Q1 and Q2 attempt.”
“But once I got through the first two corners in Q3, I felt good,” said Russell. “These conditions just put the car in the perfect window and the lap was really, really good.” Hamilton proved to be the toughest opponent in the decisive Q3 attempt, but ultimately failed by 0.171 seconds. But in the high-speed Maggotts-Becketts-Chapel combination, he never had the same confidence in the car as Russell.
“When it was wet, I was probably happiest,” says Hamilton. Unfortunately, only half of Q1 was wet: “That was the easiest part for me, I would say. As soon as we got to Q3, it just got a bit harder for me, with the balance.”
Will Silverstone weather also help Mercedes in the race?
Russell was different: “It was just on rails.” He won the first Q3 battle by 0.172 seconds. Both of them increased their lead in the second attempt thanks to headwinds in turns 6 and 7 and in the last corner, but in the end it was 0.171 seconds again. That was simply the advantage Russell had over Hamilton in this qualifying.
Looking back, taking the top two spots on the grid is more than Mercedes expected from qualifying here. “The work on the set-up overnight seems to have put us in the right direction,” speculates chief engineer Andrew Shovlin. “The cooler conditions may also have suited our car.” The Mercedes has long been famous for coming to life in these weather conditions.
All of this does not mean that they are now confident of achieving more than a podium finish over the entire race distance on Sunday. Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remain the declared favorites, with a race advantage of one and a half to two tenths. Nevertheless, Russell and Hamilton are the two drivers in Silverstone in front of their home crowd, and want to focus on the race setup. Cool temperatures, potential rain – anything is still possible.
Max Verstappen in the Red Bull will be among those putting up tough opposition. He didn’t make it in qualifying because he damaged the underbody after going into the gravel. You can find out more here: