Russell battling illness in Abu Dhabi: “I’ve had three hours sleep”

Russell starred once again in qualifying as he out-performed teammate Lewis Hamilton in Abu Dhabi.

While Hamilton was knocked out in Q2 again, Russell qualified fourth for Sunday’s race.

Speaking after qualifying, Russell joked that his ill-health is helping his level of performance.

“I’ve been really ill the last two weeks and I’ve been really quick - I don’t know if I need to be ill more often,” he said. 

“I’ve been super comfortable in the car. I’ve had three hours sleep so I don’t know if that’s what people are missing?”

Despite a strong qualifying showing, Russell admitted he had “mixed feelings” after impressing throughout practice. 

“Mixed feelings right now, definitely would of taking P4 ahead of the weekend, but after this morning’s performance, we were quickest every single lap, we only improved six tenths from practice to qualifying,” he added.

"Considering it’s much colder, we had much less fuel in the car, we didn’t make the jump we should have, that was a little bit disappointing."

“On the race pace for tomorrow and the fight with Ferrari and McLaren."