“Why aren’t we putting enough fuel?”: George Russell's team radio message after getting knocked out in Q1 of the Hungarian GP

George Russell had a disappointing qualifying session at the Hungarian GP after being knocked out in the first round. The Mercedes driver didn't have enough fuel to push until the clock ran out, while the rest of the grid set quicker times in the final minutes.

Under damp weather conditions, Sergio Perez wrecked his RB20 midway through the first round of qualifying, causing a brief red flag. Once the track was cleared, Russell was one of the first drivers to exit the pit lane. However, he didn't carry enough fuel to continue running laps as the track dried out, leading to his early elimination.

From the high of securing pole position at his home race in the British GP, George Russell found himself lamenting missed opportunities as he settled for a P17 starting position. Russell expressed his frustration over the radio, questioning why he was under-fueled, leaving him unable to capitalize on the drying track.

After Russell queried if he could do one more push lap, his race engineer Marcus Dudley replied:

"Negative, we cannot do one more lap, cannot complete one more lap, box,"

Russell replied in a dejected tone, noting that the track conditions were improving and the grip was ramping up. He said:

"Why aren’t we putting enough fuel to complete the session guys? Track's just getting better and better."

George Russell accepted the blame for not delivering his best in his final qualifying effort. However, the radio conversations indicate that both he and the team share the blame for the low starting position.

Lewis Hamilton navigated through the tricky qualifying rounds to put the fifth-fastest time in the final session. Hamilton was six-tenths of a second behind the McLaren duo, who locked out the front row with Lando Norris, starting ahead of Oscar Piastri.

Russell started the previous year's Hungarian GP in P18 and drove up to a sixth-place finish. Starting one position better this year, he will be aiming for a similar charge through the field.

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George Russell reflects on the disastrous qualifying session

George Russell unfolded what went wrong on his side of the garage in the final minutes of the Q1 qualifying session. He emphasized that his final run wasn't clean, and the team should have put more fuel. He reckoned he had enough pace to advance to the next round.

After an early exit in the session, he told Sky Sports F1:

"There's two factors. The first was I didn't do a good enough job at the beginning. The second was we didn't have enough fuel to complete the session. It was a disaster from both aspects. We should have got through comfortably."

Mercedes doesn't seem to be in the mix with McLaren and Red Bull for the win this weekend. Hamilton and Russell will be aiming to maximize the team's points haul from their respective starting positions.