Mercedes struggles on Saturday, but Antonelli limits the damage better than Russell

Kimi Antonelli believes a front-row start was possible, but a Q2 mistake complicated his session. After his first time was deleted for exceeding track limits, he had to use an extra set of new soft tires to progress. That left him with only one set for Q3. Fourth in qualifying, he will start third after Hadjar’s penalty.

George Russell does not have the same explanation. Eighth in qualifying and seventh on the grid, he admits he does not understand why Mercedes failed to improve through the weekend as its rivals did. Toto Wolff describes it as the toughest Saturday of the year and calls for a full analysis. At this stage, the team has not identified a sufficiently precise cause to automatically blame the setback on the new package.

Russell is now counting on a race that differs from qualifying, with high degradation potentially reshuffling the order. But he will start behind his teammate: to reduce his championship deficit, he first needs to work his way back into the leading group rather than rely on strategy alone.