How Russell's quick thinking produced unexpected pole

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, George Russell has been on pole position four times this season F1 CorrespondentPublished1 hour agoQuick thinking, experience and a "magic lap" came together to produce an unexpected pole position for George Russell at the Austrian Grand Prix. Many questions were raised by the events that immediately followed Max Verstappen's crash at Turn Nine on his final lap at the end of qualifying - but Russell's response to it was not one of them. The Briton, who needs a bit of luck after a troubled season so far, reacted correctly to the yellow flag zone and he leapfrogged the two Ferraris onto pole, when his team-mate Kimi Antonelli slowed down too much, and the time he set on his first lap was good enough only for fourth. Russell's judgement, to lift off just enough to satisfy the rules, but not so much that it wrecked his lap, was the difference between taking a much-needed pole and being fourth on the grid. The wider questions will continue, though. Why was only a single yellow waved initially when Verstappen spun across the gravel trap and hit the wall at the fastest corner on the track, taken at nearly 140mph? Why did it take 20 seconds for race control to decide it really should have been a double yellow - by which time everyone had already completed their laps? Verstappen described this as “quite crazy”; Antonelli as “a bit confusing”. But in the circumstances that prevailed, it was Russell who read them correctly. Russell claims controversial pole after Verstappen crash Published4 hours agoHow to follow Austrian Grand Prix on the BBC Published1 day agoAndrew Benson Q&A: Send us your questions Published1 day agoWhere did that come from?Russell had not looked a contender for pole in Austria for much of the weekend, and he lagged behind Antonelli in the first two qualifying sessions. But he found a groove in the third session, second fastest by just 0.043secs and then nailing a beauty of a final lap. "It's one of those, when you nail Turn One and you go through fast, but the car doesn't slide, it keeps the [tyre] temperatures a little bit down, so the tyres are cooler approaching the next turn, and then you have more grip, you go through there faster, and the tyres are cooler once again," Russell said. "It's this sort of upward spiral. And equally, if you have a bad Turn One, you're on this downward spiral. It just clicked. It's just one of those magic laps and I'm just so pleased, because it's been a real tough run for me." Russell fell to 68 points behind Antonelli in the championship after Monaco at the beginning of this month, where a penalty he should never have received dropped him from third to 12th. That followed his retirement from the lead in Canada, struggles for pace in Miami, and circumstances going against him in a couple of races early in the season. The only good luck he has had was at the last race in Spain when Antonelli retired having just passed Russell for second place behind Lewis Hamilton's winning Ferrari. Antonelli admitted on Saturday that even if he had not bailed on his lap when he did not need to - having mistakenly thought he saw double waved yellow flags rather than the single yellows that were actually in place - he would not have beaten Russell's time. "It would have been very close with George," the Italian said. "He would have been a little bit ahead but it would have been front row." This time, Russell had him covered, but he was not sure why. "The lap was unbelievable," Russell said." And then obviously I got that yellow flag, the single yellow in the last sector, but I did a hundred-metre lift, lost a huge amount of time and still, you know… I don't know. I don't have the answer. "For sure I'll be looking with my team where it came from, but it felt very sweet." Listen on SoundsLive commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live; live text updates on BBC Sport website and app Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Russell prevented Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton securing a front-row lock-out The key for Russell now is to convert it into a win - which, remarkably, would be his first since the opening race of the season in Australia. Russell is still 50 points behind Antonelli in the championship and really needs a win on Sunday. This pole, he said, gave him confidence that it would come good in the end, "Last year every lap, every session, just had the confidence in the car to just push it to the limit and know exactly what it was going to do," Russell said. "And I think for Charles, one of the best, definitely, qualifiers on the grid, was the same. And for both of us, it has been challenging a lot at times [this year]. "But we haven't just forgotten how to drive. And there is definitely an element of understanding what this car needs, what these tyres need in different conditions. "Kimi has just done an amazing job day in, day out. Do I have the confidence I can beat him? Yeah, 100%. I just need to get

How Russell's quick thinking produced unexpected pole

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