Russell: I don't think I could have challenged for pole.

      After qualifying in Las Vegas, George Russell will start from the second row, but the British Mercedes driver is not very happy with his fourth-place result. His teammate, Kimi Antonelli, was unlucky and will start the race from a distant 17th position.

      George Russell (4th): “The qualifying final didn’t go well for us — in fact, during the session some kind of steering issue developed on my car. It looks like the power steering failed, and I did the last three laps without it.

      I don’t think I could have challenged for pole because the driving feel wasn’t very comfortable. I don’t know what caused the power steering problem, but it was genuinely hard to get through the corners. It’s frustrating when issues crop up in the final session after the first two parts of qualifying went reasonably well for us.

      Looking at Lando Norris’ pace in the McLaren, I’m not sure we would have been able to catch him, but we definitely could have beaten everyone else. Fourth is not an ideal starting position, but over the last two years we’ve seen that a lot can happen on this track. I think we can fight with the drivers ahead of us, so we’ll try to get onto the podium.

      Tomorrow is expected to be dry and warmer than previous days. That will also affect how the race unfolds and make the contest even more intriguing.”

      Kimi Antonelli (17th): “Qualifying was tough — everyone had to overcome big challenges because the grip level was very low. The track improved with every lap, and it was important to attack in order to keep the tyres at the right temperature.

      My last lap started well, but at the end of the straight I locked the brakes, and that was the end of the session for me. It’s a real shame because we’ve had good pace all weekend and could have been fighting for strong results.

      Although we’ll start the race from far down the grid, we had decent pace in practice. Hopefully we can make use of that and try to gain as many positions as possible.

      Our team is fighting for second place in the Constructors’ Championship, and in tomorrow’s race several rivals are starting from unusually low positions. I’m still convinced we can make it into the top ten, and that’s the goal we’re setting ourselves.”

      Toto Wolff, team principal: “We went into qualifying with high hopes, but unfortunately we didn’t manage to deliver the result that the car’s pace justified. Conditions were difficult for everyone, and we were certainly not the only team to have issues. Nevertheless, it’s disappointing.

      As the track was improving, what mattered most was putting in a good final lap in each part of qualifying. George found more and set the best time in the first session, but Kimi locked his brakes on his final attempt and that was it for him.

      George used the same set of full wet tyres in the second session as he did in the first 18 minutes of qualifying and again set the fastest time. We were preparing to fight for pole, but unfortunately a power steering issue occurred on his car. Although he continued on track, he could only manage fourth. Considering the circumstances, that’s not a bad result.

      Although we’re not starting from ideal positions, we know there will be plenty of opportunities in tomorrow’s race. Because few have run on the hard tyre so far, many questions remain unanswered — nobody has yet completed a long run, and the track condition has again changed. Our pace in the early practice sessions was competitive, so we can hope to make progress and fight for a respectable result.”