"I am over the moon, absolutely buzzing" - George Russell says Mercedes 'absolutely going for it' after securing maiden pole at 2022 F1 Hungarian GP qualifying

Mercedes' George Russell took the first pole position of his F1 career in a surprise performance in Saturday's qualifying session for the 2022 Hungarian GP. The Briton put in a lap time of 1:17.377, beating Ferrari duo Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc to the front of the grid for tomorrow's race.

Speaking to W-Series driver and commentator Naomi Schiff in parc fermé post-qualifying, Russell said:

“I am over the moon, absolutely buzzing. I mean, yesterday was arguably our worst Friday of the season and we worked so hard and we didn’t know what direction to go in. Then that last lap, I got around Turn 1, mega Turn 1, then mega Turn 2 and the lap time just kept coming and kept coming. I came across the line and looked at the screen and saw we came P1 and it was an incredible feeling.”

It seems that George Russell's performance today has surprised both the driver and his team alike. The 24-year-old, however, expressed confidence in his team going full send tomorrow, saying:

“We need to look into it and understand where that came from today. We are going to be absolutely going for it but either way, that was a special day no doubt.”

With his teammate Lewis Hamilton down in P7 for tomorrow's race, the young Mercedes driver faces a lone battle against the expected charge of the Ferrari duo at lights out. It remains to be seen how he will fend off the Prancing Horses.

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George Russell says Mercedes trying 'many different things' to become faster in 2022 F1 season

George Russell feels Mercedes is on an interesting journey of finding performance to achieve competitive results in the 2022 F1 season. The Briton believes the journey has been challenging, but the team continues to work on its car to make it quicker.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with BBC F1 ahead of the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP, Russell said:

“You can’t cry and sulk about the overall performance, because that isn’t going to be productive and it’s not going to go any faster. The sort of journey we’re on at the moment is exciting. As soon as we recognised that we had a lot of challenges with this new car, we’ve truly just got down to the business of, ‘How do we make this car go faster?’.”

He continued:

“We’re not trying to make it, let’s say, nicer to drive or anything. We just want to make it go as fast as possible. And what do we need to do to achieve that? We have, as a team, worked so hard. We’ve tried so many different things.”

With Russell's pole position at the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP, it seems like Mercedes might have finally unlocked the key to becoming the quickest, at least when it comes to one-lap pace.