Russell “playing with fire” after Q3 barrier touch

Russell was also spotted in replays brushing the barrier on the right at the entry to the Swimming Pool chicane during a hectic qualifying session that saw him earn sixth place.

The chicane hit occurred towards the end of Q3, just before the red flag for the Sergio Perez/Carlos Sainz accident. Russell admitted that he was surprised to be able to continue the lap without problems.

"On my quickest lap, and I'll try and post a video tonight [Saturday], I actually hit the wall on the left after the tunnel,” said Russell when asked by Autosport about his session. “Which is impressive to see, I have a steering lock the same rate, and you sort of see the wishbone sort of bend in, and somehow I just managed to keep it together.

“I managed to finish the lap and it all seemed in one piece. We'll probably have to check the toes and see. It’s all about playing with fire when you have a wall brush and get away with it. You're like, ‘Wow, I don't really know how we managed that.’"

George Russell, Mercedes-AMG

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Asked if he could have left a bit of margin, he added: "I mean, it would have added lap time but it's sort of risk versus reward. And if you leave a bit of margin, you're going to lose it. It's one corner out of 14.”

Russell was keen to downplay his qualifying result, noting that the car wasn’t as competitive as at the last race in Spain.

"P6 is not a result to be celebrating," he said. "But I think when you look at it objectively, there was no reason for us to be any higher. We've really struggled with compliance of the car, it has been really stiff this weekend.

“And following Barcelona, our strengths were the straightline speed and the high-speed corners. And there's none of those in