George Russell wants to ‘make hay’ after dominating Australian GP qualifying

By Philip Duncan, Press Association F1 Correspondent, Melbourne

George Russell vowed to “make hay while the sun shines” after he blitzed his world championship rivals to take a crushing pole position for Sunday’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

The British driver, 28, arrived for the new campaign here in Melbourne as the bookmakers’ favourite in a Mercedes tipped to master Formula One’s new regulations.

And Russell delivered in his flying Silver Arrows with an impressive lap of the Albert Park circuit which was nearly three tenths faster than team-mate Kimi Antonelli.

Following Max Verstappen’s shock early exit after he crashed out on the opening corner of his first qualifying lap of the year, Isack Hadjar took third on his Red Bull debut. However, Hadjar was almost eight tenths slower than Russell.

Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, defending champion Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton followed for Ferrari and McLaren. But the quartet were the best part of a sobering second behind Russell. No wonder Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was grinning from ear-to-ear at the conclusion of the one-sided session of what could be a one-sided year.

“We thought as a team we had a really good package beneath us, but we didn’t quite think it was that good,” said Russell.

“I am definitely surprised by the gap. We have a really great engine, but we also have a great car, too, and that hasn’t been highlighted enough.

“We want to win, we want to be on pole, we want to dominate the weekend, but it is a really long season, and we need to get through tomorrow and have a clean race.

“And I definitely have to make hay while the sun shines. My mentality coming into this race is if we started on the front foot, it doesn’t guarantee anything. And if we started on the back foot, it doesn’t guarantee anything either.”

Antonelli recovered from a huge crash in final practice to ensure Mercedes locked out the front row, but it is unlikely he will be in Russell’s class on Sunday.

Russell will not have the nerve-jangling prospect of Verstappen in his rear mirrors to contend with following the four-time world champion’s crash.

Verstappen lost control of his Red Bull under braking at the opening corner before skipping across the gravel and thudding the barrier.

“The car just f****** locked on the rear axles,” he said over the radio, before adding sarcastically: “Fantastic.”

Verstappen’s shunt will put him at the back of the grid. The Dutch driver has been critical of the new rules, and his shock early demise unsurprisingly did little to change his verdict.

”I’m definitely not having fun at all with these cars,” said Verstappen. “It’s going to be a long season.

“We know that we have to improve the car and engine to fight Mercedes, because at the end of the day we’re not here to be third, fourth, fifth, whatever. We’re here to win.”

Over at McLaren, Norris’ mood was equally dour. Asked about his prospect in Sunday’s 58-lap contest, he said: “It already sucks so it is probably going to be even worse.”