How Russell stole the show and nearly pole on used inters

Russell excelled in treacherous wet weather conditions to haul his uncompetitive Williams into the final part of qualifying, and then so nearly take what would have gone down as one of the greatest pole laps in F1 history.

The British driver’s outstanding sole Q3 effort saw him briefly hold provisional pole position, having outpaced Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes by 0.013s, before Verstappen usurped him by just three tenths right at the end.

"I was in the fortunate position that I had nothing to lose,” said a delighted Russell in parc ferme directly after qualifying had concluded.

"We just had to go for it. We saved the full maximum engine mode for the last lap, but I’m buzzing, absolutely buzzing.”

As the rain fell heavier at the start of the top-10 shootout, the McLaren driver lost control on the run up Eau Rouge and speared into the barriers. The violent impact destroyed his car and resulted in immediate red flag.

It was a dramatic Saturday at Spa, in our first qualifying session after the 2021 summer break

Watch highlights here - including this incident that Lando thankfully walked away from, and a battle for pole that was decided by 0.013s taken a decision on who will partner Hamilton in 2022, though it will remain a closely-guarded secret for the time being.

“At La Source, he just gained so much time to everybody else because he’s the only one who is on the apex,” Wolff said of Russell’s lap.

“That’s definitely a fact of driving and also a fact of having the right setup and the tyre temperatures and the window.

“The way Williams has approached qualifying was very clever. But it needs a driver to exploit the full potential of the package, or overperform the package.

“All that came together today and we still saw a brilliant lap from a brilliant young driver.”