George Russell explains unusual Q3 tyre request that left him annoyed

George Russell has explained the confusion surrounding his unusual request to run medium tyres during the final part of qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix.

After topping Q1 on the medium compound, Mercedes driver Russell expressed his desire to use the same tyre during Q3, despite the red-walled softs theoretically being the quickest tyre.

Russell was left frustrated when he emerged from the Mercedes garage on soft tyres during the top-10 shootout and said over team radio: “Uh, I thought I said I wanted the mediums.”

The Briton went on to qualify sixth but will start one place higher from fifth after former teammate Lewis Hamilton’s five-place grid penalty is applied.

“We ran it in Q1 and we were the quickest. After Q2 I said I’d like to use the mediums because I felt more comfortable on it,” Russell said.

"It wasn’t the first time this season that mediums, for some cars at least, have been faster. I’m not going to stand here and say ‘if only’ - we ultimately didn’t do a good job in Q3 anyway. But a bit annoying.

“In all honesty I probably wasn’t totally clear enough. I just said after Q1 I’d like to use the mediums and I sort of re-emphasised during the middle of Q2.

“So I asked if we were sticking to plan and they said yes, but I thought the plan was mediums, they thought the plan was fitting the softs. For me I thought it was quite clear because of the performance we showed. A bit of an error on both halves.”

On his prospects for the race, Russell added: “Our race pace will probably be better than Ferrari but they’re mighty fast in the straight so we need to try and get ahead of Leclerc from the off otherwise it will be quite a long, frustrating race behind him.”

Kimi Antonelli reveals pre-qualifying ‘nerves’

Kimi Antonelli enjoyed his best qualifying since the Canadian Grand Prix in June as he took seventh just behind teammate Russell.

The 19-year-old Italian rookie has endured a torrid European leg of the season but his performance on home soil will give him a timely confidence boost, which he will hope to translate into a strong result on Sunday.

“I was happy,” Antonelli said. “There was quite a bit more on the table on the last lap. We tried something different with the tyres and just really struggled in the first two sectors, especially with the rear.

“I had a lot of moments, especially first and second chicane, which was not ideal. The last sector felt strong but obviously the time loss in the first two sectors was too big. Definitely there was more on the table but still happy with how I built the session.

“I was quite nervous going into qualifying because, let’s say, I like to make my life a bit tougher. With the mistake yesterday, we lost quite a bit of laps and then automatically you have to do a different programme for FP3 which is not ideal because you just want to prepare for quali.

“Still a lot to improve, especially on trying to build the weekend more nicely, but looking forward to tomorrow.”