George Russell’s slim hopes of keeping the pressure on Kimi Antonelli in the title battle suffered a blow when he couldn’t better P6 in Austin on a day when his team mate took another superb pole position.
In what were tricky conditions for everyone, Russell conceded that he simply didn’t get a decent lap in as, like others, he struggled in the final sequence of corners.
Having failed to improve on his second run he had to settle for his first attempt, which left him 0.441s shy of Antonelli, with both Red Bulls and both Ferraris splitting them on the grid.
“I don’t think I could have fought for pole, but I think top three was definitely on the cards for me,” he said after the session. “I went slower in Q3 than I did in Q2, so that says enough.”
The Briton was also at a loss to explain the reason why he was so far off, while conceding that everything snowballed after a slide during his lap.
“I’m not too sure to be honest,” he added. “I think from my side, it’s two bad laps in Q3. As simple as that, really.
“It was feeling very good at Sector 1, feeling good, but then in low speed I was struggling, and yeah, just didn’t get it together in Q3.
“Just one slide around Turn 12, and then it was just a snowball. Lost it all in Sector 3, and yeah, simple as that.”
The wind around the Circuit of The Americas made it tricky for everyone during the session, but changing track temperature could also have played a part in affecting performance.
“The cloud cover was having quite an impact as well,” said Russell. “So I don’t think anybody improved on that last lap. The sun came out but, unfortunately, my first lap was not good enough.
“Just for everyone, the track temperature raises by a couple of degrees, and when you get to Sector 3, that has a huge difference in the tyres and the window.”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, Russell noted: “I don’t think anyone expected Ferrari not to be in the top three. They looked the dominant team this whole weekend, so it will be interesting for the race pace, how that translates.”
