George Russell said he was unable to get the medium tyres working to his favour during Saturday's Brazil GP qualifying and has limited confidence going into the race.

In what the Mercedes driver described as a 'strange' qualifying session, Russell could only qualify as high as P6.

His teammate Kimi Antonelli however seemed a lot more comfortable in the W16 and starts on the front row alongside polesitter Lando Norris.

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'Damage limitation'

After a tight Q3 session where all 10 drivers were split by just 0.528s, Russell said to F1TV: "I just had no grip to be honest.

"It was obviously a very strange session when you look at the order throughout. Max out in Q1, Bearman top three the whole session and I was kind of in that camp of not being able to get the tires working.

"It wasn't very pleasant but P6 is definitely damage limitation considering how bad it felt."

An all Mercedes-powered top 3 in Saturday's Sprint - Photo: Race Pictures

Russell the sole medium runner

Having set his first Q3 lap time on the soft tyres, which placed him a provisional P5 on the grid, Russell was the only driver to opt for a set of medium tyres in his final qualifying run.

Despite improving his time, Russell could only qualify as high as P6 and will start Sunday's race inbetween the Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar in P5 and Liam Lawson in P7.

Russell finished a strong P3 in the Sprint earlier on Saturday but anticipates a challenge getting past the cars ahead.

He continued: “I'd like to think I can move forward but obviously the cars ahead are still quick.

"You've got one of the Racing Bulls ahead of us which I hope to try and get past, but I think it'll be difficult to get on the podium tomorrow for me.”

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