George Russell is on the edge of ‘disaster’ at ‘every’ race, claims Jolyon Palmer at the British GP

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Jolyon Palmer saw a clear sign that George Russell is “not in a good place” right now at Mercedes after a difficult Sprint qualifying session that saw the Briton secure P5 for the British Grand Prix Sprint race.

The home hero came mightily close to exiting Sprint qualifying in SQ2, after his first flying lap in the 10-minute timed session saw him at risk to those in the drop zone. Fortunately for Russell, he clambered back into contention when it mattered most.

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However, the final eight minutes of the shootout saw Russell’s lack of pace continue to be on display. While Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli missed out on a front-of-the-pack start by just 0.011s to Lewis Hamilton, Russell was 0.357s off the pace.

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Jolyon Palmer says ‘every weekend’ has looked like it could be a ‘disaster’ for George Russell this season

Speaking via Channel 4’s coverage of Sprint qualifying at the British Grand Prix, former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer was not impressed with Russell’s close call in SQ2.

Renowned for his one-lap pace in under qualifying conditions, Antonelli’s out-qualifying of Russell at Silverstone means that the qualifying head-to-head across both formats is now equally split between them.

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However, Palmer believes Russell’s difficulty in matching his teammate in the Sprint qualifying session at the British GP is just the latest in a “common trend” that sees the British driver recording less consistent lap times than his Mercedes counterpart.

“There’s a really common trend in recent races, which is Antonelli being consistent with lap times, Russell not,” he said (16:55 03/07), as the seven-time Grand Prix winner looked down the barrel of an SQ2 exit.

“That doesn’t mean George can’t take pole. As we saw in Austria, and we saw in Canada, he did that last lap and dug out seventh to pole. But he has to work so hard at putting a lap together, and it’s not coming with the consistency that Kimi and Lewis can provide.

“Right now, the Ferrari looks like it’s looking to be a genuine contender. But for Russell, the question marks on how to get the car into the right window must just be all over him. When it works, he’s quick; when it doesn’t, it looks like every weekend could be a disaster.”

• READ MORE: British Grand Prix 2026: How to watch, F1 race and Sprint times, and Silverstone weather forecast

Russell managed to scrape through to SQ3 with his final effort of the session, but was still far from a convincing lap. As he crossed the line, Palmer noticed that he was shaking his head, a clear sign that he wasn’t happy with it.

“As it happened, I think 10th might have just been George’s anyway, but he improved,” he said, before adding, “Was that a little shake of the head as he crossed the line? He is not happy right now. I’ve said this so many times, but he’s not in a good place, is he?”