In qualifying, the Mercedes F1 was a “completely different beast.”

Russell finished Friday’s practice at the Miami International Speedway as soon as possible, but gave up did not really understand where the speed of Mercedes came from after a difficult start to the season.

Mercedes tested changes to the setting on Russell’s car in recent practice before returning to the previous configuration for qualifying, only to have him knocked out in Q2 in 12th place. Russell’s best lap in qualifying was two-tenths of a second slower than the one he managed in FP2.

“It’s certainly a surprise, but after driving and feeling how it felt, it’s not surprising,” Russell said.

“Today I felt like a completely different beast. Today we had a lot of guinea pigs and we didn’t really understand why, and ultimately it was a difficulty.

“This is the first time I’ve felt it through a corner. Through turn 4 and turn 5 he just jumped through it all and then all in the braking zones.

“It’s a pity, because on Saturday I was slower than on Friday, and everyone else was going a second faster.”

Mercedes struggled with defeat on its W13 car during the start of the 2022 season, so it couldn’t be challenged Ferrari and Red Bull in front of the field.

Russell struggled with a lack of stability in the back of his car, which was still in place for qualifying despite a rollback to a change of setting in FP3, but called the breakdown the biggest problem preventing him from getting into Q3.

“The back of the car is jumping and you just don’t have any support or stability behind it,” Russell said.

“Yesterday we flew through the first sector and so trusted the car. And suddenly, as I said, today is a completely different beast.

“It makes sense inside the car. But we don’t really understand why it’s so different. “

a teammate of Mercedes Lewis Hamilton managed to break into the third quarter, ranking sixth after Ferrari and Red Bull, as well as Alpha Romeo with Walter Botas.

Hamilton acknowledged that Mercedes ’qualifications were“ a bit confusing with Friday’s pace ”and that he was still unsure why its performance seemed to be exaggerated in FP3.

“Today was a bit unexpected to see in FP3, we were pretty far back,” Hamilton said.

“So going into qualifying was a little nervous. We haven’t taken a step forward or anything else. But we must continue to work. “