George will line up from P3 on the grid for the final F1 Sprint of the season at Interlagos.

Gearing up for the penultimate race of the season, George took to the track for FP1 on a set of Medium tyres to set a 1.14.886 in the early stages of the session before improving to 1.14.132.

Switching to the Soft tyres for the remaining 30 minutes of the session, George put in his best time of 1.12.055 to slot into P6 ahead of the Qualifying.

With the rain falling ahead of Qualifying, the session was deemed wet and George headed out on the Intermediates to place into P5 on his first run.

As the session progressed and the track began to dry, George dropped down the order and into P8. Switching onto the Soft tyres for the final three minutes, George improved to secure his place into Q2.

George set a 1.12.819 on his initial run in Q2, quickly improving into P8 before switching to a fresh set of Soft tyres. Setting his best time of the session with a 1.11.318, the Brit moved into P4 and into the final pole shootout.

With the rain starting to set in, George donned the Soft tyres to place into P3 on his first run. As the intensity increased, George ran off at Turn Four but kept his W13 out of the gravel before attempting a 360 on the escape road.

Due to the damp tarmac, the Brit spun, beaching his rear tyres in gravel trap and bringing out the red flag.

Once his W13 machine was retrieved, the session resumed with George sidelined but, due to the increased rain, no-one was able to improve and George maintained his P3 position for Saturday’s F1 Sprint.

George Russell – Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One™ Team Driver

There were some mixed emotions for me in that session. It was a pretty unique experience in Q3 - we were one of the last cars on the road, and as the lap progressed, the rain was falling harder and harder - and it was a lot wetter in the final corner than on the lap before. On the next lap, I lost the car into Turn 4 and actually broke the headrest because my head was bouncing round so much; then I tried to do a 360 and beached the rear tyres in the gravel, which wasn't my best decision. There's a lot of gravel in there but the guys will have to take it to pieces to get everything out, so hopefully it will all be okay. Even so, P3 is a good starting position for tomorrow, and I have to say a massive congrats to Kevin and Haas on pole. These kinds of unexpected results are exactly what make sport so special!