Mercedes' decision, not the right one says Russell: 'We paid the price'

"The track was getting colder and I went, well we went slower on the out lap which we knew from all of our experience was not the thing to be doing," said Russell highlighting what he feels was the wrong approach to his final qualifying run.

"But we decided that was the right decision and ultimately paid the price. So, part of the game, we got it right last week, we didn't get it right this week," referring to his P2 result in the qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix.

Mercedes thought the tyres would not hold for the entirety of the lap, worried about potentially overheating the tyres.

However, Russell rathers be optimistic, after all, only two spots stand between him and a third consecutive podium. "But paying the price to end up in the 5 is not a horrendous price to pay."