George Russell said he “paid the price” for a lack of performance by pushing too hard and crashing in qualifying in Austin.
Russell went off in Q3, ending the second runs of the rest of the field and leaving himself in sixth place on the grid.
He admitted that the car didn’t have the speed it showed in sprint qualifying on Friday, and that in effect he was trying to make the difference.
The crash damaged the upgraded floor and other parts on his W15. Mercedes only has two sets in Austin, leaving the team in a difficult situation for Sunday.
Lewis Hamilton offered to donate the new parts from his car, but Russell is likely to revert to the older spec floor, which will involve a significant rebuilding job by the crew.
That will mean he has to go to the grid in a car that won’t necessarily be optmised.
However the change of parts won’t lead to a grid penalty because under sprint weekend rules drivers can go back to an earlier declared spec while under parc ferme.
“All season when the car is in the sweet spot we’re fighting for poles and wins,” he said when asked by formu1a.uno about his session.
“Yesterday we were both fighting for pole, and today we were both almost out in Q1. I really pushed it on that last lap, and ultimately trying to find performance that wasn’t there, and paid the price.
“And I’m really just disappointed with myself, because everyone’s worked so hard to bring the upgrades – now that’s in the bin.”
Russell couldn’t explain why the W15 was not as competitive as on Friday, when he qualified second for the sprint.
“We don’t have the answers,” he said. “Because we keep finding ourselves in this position. It’s how the cars interacting with the tyres, the temperature, small changes, the wind, small changes.
“But it has been the story of the season. Old upgrades, new upgrades, either we’re there, or we’re half a second, six-tenths off.”
Regarding the damage he said: “Right now the concern is about the bits. We will have to revert on the upgrades Lewis has kindly offered his ones, but we’re not going to swap. So I don’t know what’s going to be happening now, but that’s the biggest concern.”
