George Russell in telling Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton comment after Brazil GP blow

George Russell took the positives from his frustrating qualifying session at the Brazilian Grand Prix, adopting a 'things could have been worse' stance after watching rivals Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton fail to make it into Q3.

Russell and Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli demonstrated plenty of pace during Saturday's sprint race, finishing second and third while challenging Lando Norris for the victory, but the five-time Grand Prix winner failed to translate that promise into qualifying speed.

While his 19-year-old colleague put his Mercedes car onto the front row of the grid alongside Norris, Russell was only able to qualify sixth with Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri and Isack Hadjar ahead of him. However, with Hamilton down in 13th and Verstappen shockingly eliminated in Q1, he wasn't the only big-hitter to struggle in Sao Paulo.

"I just had no grip, to be honest," Russell told Sky Sports F1, addressing his tough session. "Definitely wasn't the only one complaining on that - you look at obviously Max was out in Q1, Lewis was out, Bearman was at the top, and his team-mate was at the bottom.

"And I couldn't get them switched on and just couldn't find that sweet spot and was just sliding around, I had no grip. So it's a bit of a shame, but part of me, when I see Max and Lewis, how bad it could have been, I think we made the best of a bad situation."

Russell was right to grimace at Hamilton and Verstappen's qualifying woes. For the legendary Ferrari star, this was simply the latest blot on a rollercoaster maiden campaign with the Scuderia, but for the reigning world champion, there were bigger consequences.

Verstappen watched his deficit to World Championship leader Norris grow by four points in the sprint race after crossing the line in fourth. Later in the day, he was eliminated in Q1 alongside his team-mate, Yuki Tsunoda, while the Brit secured pole position in a dominant fashion.

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With the gap now at 39 points, Verstappen will need to replicate his heroics from a year ago to keep his name in the Drivers' Championship hat heading into the season-ending triple-header coming up after Sunday's Grand Prix.

"Yeah, it was just bad," Verstappen told Sky Sports F1, explaining his struggles. "I couldn't push at all. The car was all over the place, sliding around a lot. I had to underdrive it a lot just to not have a moment, and that, of course, does not work in qualifying.

"We first have to analyse what is going on. I don't really understand how it can be this bad, so that's a bit more important for us to understand at the moment."