The experimental Shepard’s Pie, as Crofty dubbed the 2023 Hungarian GP Qualifying today, has thrown up a belter of a Q1. All the 20 drivers drove out into the unknown with virtually only 2 sessions of practice. What’s more? They were only allowed to use the Hard compound of tires to make a bid for Q2. Well, the official reasoning given by the sport and the FIA was that this decision was for the purposes of sustainability. But it did grace us with its own lot of drama. And Mercedes man George Russell was the unfortunate protagonist.

That’s right, Russell is out in Q1! The Brit will be starting the Hungarian Grand Prix from 18th tomorrow. While he will be gutted to miss out on what turned out to be a chaotic last segment of the session, he does have his team to blame for this shocking gaffe.

George Russell blasts Mercedes after Q1 exit

As Martin Brundle rightly said, Russell has wrecked any chances of a good result tomorrow. The Hungaroring is right alongside the notorious Monaco for being a track where you cannot overtake. Naturally, emotions were running high, and Brit blamed Toto Wolff and Co. for leaving him high and dry with a bizarre strategy call.

Mercedes could’ve let their cars out of the pits sooner. But they placed their bets on track evolution instead. The end result was a chaotic sector 3 traffic jam that hampered Russell’s efforts to get out. He came onto his radio and vented, “It’s a sh*t show! What’s was that? What was that? Don’t tell me we’re out…. F**king hell guys!”

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Russell’s race seems to have been doomed even before it began. What would hurt even more was that the weekend started on a completely different note.

How Russell’s Hungarian GP nightmare unraveled

The start of the Hungarian GP was a brilliant one for the Brit as the W14 looked pacey. Even though the FP1 session was marred by rain, Russell pumped in some solid laps to get himself sorted for the rest of the weekend. In hindsight, even though it was just practice, he will be ruing how it all panned out relative to how it was just 24 hours ago.

Sky Sports reported on Russell’s highlight of the weekend, “Oscar Piastri and Russell traded top spot in the final minutes and it was the Mercedes driver who came out on top with a 1:38.795, which was 0.359s faster than Piastri.”

Can Russell salvage his race tomorrow?

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