Russell admits confidence ‘wasn’t highest’ before Zandvoort Sprint pole as he explains what helped him to deliver

George Russell has conceded that his confidence “wasn't exactly at my highest” prior to taking pole in Sprint Qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix, with the Briton admitting that he tried to approach the event in a similar way to the first race of the season.

It had not been the smoothest run for Russell prior to F1’s traditional summer break, the Mercedes driver having suffered a first-lap retirement in Belgium before having to settle for P7 one week on at the Hungaroring.

However, the 28-year-old looked in strong form as he grabbed pole for the Sprint in Zandvoort, his fastest time of 1m 11.567s putting him 0.041s ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris while the other Silver Arrows car of Kimi Antonelli placed in fifth.

When it was put to him after the session that he must have felt delighted with the lap, Russell answered: “Yeah, absolutely. It's been a little while since I've been top of the timesheets in any session, to be honest – I can't even remember the last time, so it's good to remind myself I’ve still got it and haven't forgotten how to drive!

“The break came at a good point. Of course it’s only for the Sprint – another Sprint session, still got the job to do tomorrow. The main Qualifying is going to be the key one, and McLaren look really fast, Ferrari look quick.

“It's been a real surprise to us as a team, these past couple of races but, yeah, we're in a good spot.”

Russell went on to explain how getting himself into the right frame of mind before Sprint Qualifying seemed to have paid off, given that he had not felt at his most confident ahead of the weekend in Zandvoort.

The British driver said: “I've got to be honest, I came into this weekend with a real open mind because I had no idea how it was going to go, confidence level wasn't exactly at my highest, but just trying to remember that feeling of what I needed from myself and the car, and just go in and almost treat it like the first race of the season again and not overthink things.

“That seems to work well for me. It's very difficult to actually put those words into action, but I always know when I'm in the right frame of mind, come Q3, I can always deliver. It's just ensuring I'm in that right frame of mind ahead of that point.”

In terms of what might help him to convert his pole into a win for Saturday’s Sprint, Russell explained: “I think just a good start, to be honest. I think it's going to be a very challenging circuit to overtake.

“The Ferrari's race pace looked exceptionally strong this morning. We looked quite offset, to honest, in the order of three or four tenths. We'll see if that translates into tomorrow, but a clean start and that should be enough.”