British Formula One driver George Russell had an unfortunate retirement in the 2024 British Grand Prix after starting from pole in front of his home crowd, a race where he’d previously finished fifth in 2023.

Promising pace in Practice

A week on from George’s Austrian win, George and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One™ Team began his home Grand Prix weekend by completing long runs and focusing on understanding the car’s balance.

After a brief Red Flag interrupted the session, George got straight out on the Hard compound before later switching to Mediums to continue analysing data.

George finished the weekend’s first Free Practice session in fifth.

WATCH: 2024 BRITISH FP1 HIGHLIGHTS

More data gathering at home

After beginning on fresh Medium tyres in FP2, the threat of rain impacting the end of the session meant George switched to Softs to complete some short runs.

Following on from his work in FP1, George continued to gather data to support the team in optimising the car ahead of Qualifying and the Grand Prix.

Towards the end of the session, with the threat of rain looming, George and the team focused on longer runs. After completing a good number of laps before the rain began, George finished the session in P10.

WATCH: 2024 BRITISH FP2 HIGHLIGHTS

Practice impacted by wet British weather

Overnight thunderstorms resulted in a wet track during FP3. Due to this, George ran Intermediate tyres throughout.

The damp track resulted in low grip and a lack of tyre temperature. After a brief Red Flag affected the session, George came back out on the Intermediates.

With two minutes to go, George came out for some last-minute running. He finished the session in P1.

WATCH: 2024 BRITISH FP3 HIGHLIGHTS

Pole at home!

More rain came down between FP3 and Qualifying, meaning the track was damp at the beginning of Qualifying. On Intermediates, George set two push laps as a dry line began to appeared.

After a Red Flag interrupted the session, George resumed Q1 on Soft tyres despite a threat of further rain before the end of Q1. He completed several push laps before rain became heavier and later eased off.

Despite getting a lap time deleted towards the end of Q1, George’s final lap successfully placed him P2 and saw him safely through to Q2.

George began the second qualifying segment on the same used Soft tyres from Q1. For his second run of Q2, he put on a new set of Softs and set two laps, putting him through to Q3 in P2.

George’s first run of Q3 was completed on new Soft tyres. His initial lap was a time of 1:26.024 and topped the timesheet.

On his final lap, he set the fastest middle and final sectors to claim pole at his home Grand Prix.

WATCH: 2024 BRITISH QUALIFYING HIGHLIGHTS

Unfortunate retirement after promising start

George started the 2024 British Grand Prix from pole position. On Medium tyres, he had a strong start, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton sitting within DRS range behind him for the first few laps.

Rain began to hit the circuit around Lap 15. Shortly afterwards, Hamilton brought the gap between himself and George down. On Lap 18, Hamilton made the overtake into Stowe, moving George into second place.

Shortly after, as the rain started to get heavier, Lando Norris joined the battle and passed George.

George stayed within DRS of Norris, but due to the wet track conditions, DRS was disabled.

At the end of Lap 27, George pitted for Intermediate tyres in a Mercedes double-stack. He came back onto track in P5.

Shortly after, George began to experience issues with the car, and unfortunately, on Lap 33, he was forced to retire with a suspected water system issue.

The 2024 F1 season will resume on 19-21 July for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

WATCH: 2024 BRITISH GRAND PRIX HIGHLIGHTS

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George Russell, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One™ Team driver:

I’m absolutely gutted. About 10 laps before I had to retire, I could see temperature alarms on my steering wheel. We had a water system issue we were battling and unfortunately, it won out. Congratulations to Lewis and the team though. He drove a great race and it’s a fully deserved victory. We’ve both been pushing so hard to help the team develop the car and it’s great to see that paying off.

The car felt so good today. We knew it was going to be a long race with the weather conditions. When the rain first came down, we struggled a little. We were able to find our pace again though and it would have been an interesting battle to the end. Nevertheless, it’s been an amazing weekend for us as a team. We can be proud of what we’ve achieved and look forward to the final two races before the summer break with excitement.