Russell Confident Poor Qualifying Does Not End His Chances In Malaysia

SEPANG, Oct 3 (Bernama-PA Media/dpa) -- George Russell insisted his worst grid position of the year for Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix “is not the be all and end all” – a week after his brilliant win in Azerbaijan had provided him with a foothold in the world championship race, PA Media/dpa reported.

Russell took 15 points out of leader Kimi Antonelli with his dominant triumph on the streets of Baku to trim his Mercedes teammate’s title advantage to 66 with a possible 208 still remaining.

But he will start Sunday’s rescheduled Manama round – which is being staged at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit because of the conflict in West Asia – four positions behind his rival.

Max Verstappen claimed his first pole of the year and he will be joined on the front row by Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton. Isack Hadjar qualified third but he is relegated five places for taking on new engine parts. His sanction elevates Antonelli to third and Russell to seventh.

Mercedes might have expected their biggest upgrade in four months to propel them further ahead at the sharp end of the pack. Instead, they witnessed their poorest one-lap performance so far.

Their underwhelming grid positions will raise significant questions about the strength of their updates. And Russell will also be pondering his own display. He finished 0.240 seconds adrift of Antonelli despite having one more attempt than his rival in the decisive Q3 running.

However, on the eve of Formula 1’s first fixture in Malaysia since 2017, an optimistic Russell said: “There is going to be a lot happening tomorrow. The tyre degradation is huge and, race pace will be king, so even though today was a real disappointment, it is not the be all and end all.

“This circuit is an outlier in terms of the abrasiveness of the tarmac. The lap times nine years ago were six or seven seconds faster, and at certain points, it feels like you are driving on gravel. It’s the same for everyone, but it is clearly affecting us more than others.

“As a team, we have yet to have a bad race this whole season and this was clearly a very bad qualifying for us. All the numbers say the upgrade is an improvement but obviously we need to follow the lap times, and not what the numbers say. The numbers look absolutely fine and in line with expectations. However, the result wasn’t.”

The same verdict could not be applied to Verstappen. The Dutch driver was in a class of one on Saturday and he will be expected to build on his first pole since last December’s finale in Abu Dhabi with his first win of 2026.

Hamilton has endured a disappointing run of late with doubts over the future of Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur lingering in the air. Hamilton is 103 points off the title pace.

However, Hamilton converted his last front-row start – at June’s Barcelona Grand Prix – to the sole win of his Ferrari career.

And the 41-year-old, who qualified 0.298 sec adrift of Verstappen, said: “I will try my best to hold on to Max tomorrow, and if we are in the fight that would be awesome. I’ve been talking too much but I guess you talk more when you are happy.

“It was my best lap of the year. It feels like I won and I will give it everything tomorrow.”

-- BERNAMA-PA MEDIA/dpa