George Russell surprised by fifth in F1 Miami qualifying after "worst quali" of 2025

"It could have been worse" is how the Mercedes driver summed up the situation

George Russell admitted he was surprised to be within two tenths of Max Verstappen's Miami Grand Prix pole lap, noting it was his "worst quali" of the Formula 1 season so far.

Mercedes driver Russell appeared to be in strife during the second phase of qualifying and was sat in the elimination zone after his opening lap, albeit on used tyres, with a clear disparity between himself and team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

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The Briton booked his place in Q3 with his second effort of the intermediate stage, this time on new C5s, and then qualified fifth for the grand prix – just 0.01s behind McLaren's Oscar Piastri.

Russell reckoned that qualifying had been "a strength of mine" over 2025, but felt too uncomfortable in the car in Miami to deliver the performance he'd expected. Nonetheless, he was happy to mitigate the damage by getting into the top five.

"I've been really struggling today, to be honest. This whole weekend has just not been clicking for me," Russell explained.

"Quali's been a real strength of mine this season, but clearly whatever's been working so well this year for me, it does not work here in Miami. And Kimi's been doing a great job.

"For me, worst quali of the year, but it could have been worse. I was really surprised to be this close to pole position because it felt really bad out there.

"I didn't feel confident in myself and I knew I couldn't drive to my potential because I didn't have the confidence. Days like this, it's sort of damage limitation – so P5 was a good thing all things considered."

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Russell says that unlocking performance from the front tyres was the likely culprit, and that he was struggling to feel the front-end bite in the middle sector of the lap.

He suggested that an overnight increase in tyre pressures "compounded the issue", particularly as he felt that Mercedes was likeliest of the frontrunning teams to suffer as a result.

"It's how you drive always puts the tyres in a slightly different window. And clearly Kimi, from lap one this weekend, he's been really on it.

"He's been exceptionally fast, doing an amazing job – and for myself, I've taken a step backwards, so you know what's worked for me for these first five races did not work here in Miami.

"With sprint races, when you start on the back foot, it's a bit difficult to turn it around and that was the case. I was always struggling a lot in that middle sector, sector two – the front end was just not coming to me.

"Pirelli increased the pressures last night which compounded the issue, and we know that out of the top four teams we're probably the worst in keeping the temperature out of the tyres.

"It's so close out there on a single lap, but I unfortunately expect that gap to extend tomorrow."