Russell left frustrated after the Suzuka race

Having displayed great pace across the practice sessions, George Russell finished down in fifth place at the Japanese Grand Prix, which has left the British driver frustrated.

George Russell started from P5 on the grid. Although he displayed great pace during his opening stint, he was stuck behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

Mercedes tried to undercut the Monegasque, calling Russell into the pits earlier, but Ferrari was spot on with the strategy and the Italian team also read the traffic conditions perfectly. It all meant that Leclerc managed to rejoin the track in front of Russell, who was then unable to put any pressure on the Ferrari man, and finished in the same position in which he started the Suzuka race.

Reflecting on his 53-lap race in Japan, Russell reckoned that the lack of overtaking opportunities led to a "frustrating race" in which it was difficult to make up positions.

"Today’s race was a frustrating one. With the top six cars all finishing where they started, it was a Grand Prix dictated by yesterday’s qualifying performance. It was a relatively easy one-stop strategy and, on a circuit that is very difficult to overtake at, there were few opportunities to make forward progress.

"We tried our best to make the undercut work on Leclerc at the end of our first stint. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite have the pace to pull it off with the traffic that we had to clear in those two laps. Whatever strategy we had attempted though, I think we would have ultimately finished P5.

Russell aims to bounce back in next weekend's race in Bahrain where he will focus on maximazing his one-lap pace in qualifying.

"Our frustration mainly comes from the fact that we didn’t optimise qualifying yesterday. With the pace we showed over practice, we had a car that could have been competing for the front two rows of the grid. It is the first qualifying session of the year where we haven’t maximised our full potential.

"That was a shame, but we can bounce back straight away in Bahrain. It is a very different track to Suzuka, much hotter and a more abrasive circuit. It will be fascinating to see where everyone’s relative performance is and is going to be another test for everyone", said Russell.