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Russell didn’t look like a contender for pole in Austria for much of the weekend, and fell behind Antonelli in the first two qualifying sessions.
But he found a groove in the third session, was second fastest by just 0.043 seconds and then nailed the final lap beauty.
“It’s one of those things where you nail a turn and you’re going fast but the car doesn’t slide, it drops the[tire]temperature a little bit, so the tires are cooling down going into the next turn, and then you have more grip, you’re going through there faster, and the tires get cold again,” Russell said.
“It’s kind of an upward spiral. And in the same way, if you have one bad turn, you’re on this downward spiral. It just clicked. It’s just one of those magic things and I’m glad because it was a tough race for me.”
Russell fell 68 points behind Antonelli in the championship after Monaco earlier this month. Punishment should never be accepted He dropped from third to 12th.
He retired from the lead in Canada, struggled for pace in Miami and the conditions went against him in the first two races of the season.
His only good fortune came in the final race in Spain, where Antonelli retired behind Lewis Hamilton’s winning Ferrari after passing Russell.
Antonelli admitted on Saturday that although he didn’t need a lap guarantee – he mistakenly saw double yellow flags instead of yellow flags – Russell’s time didn’t beat him.
“He was very close to George,” said the Italian. “He was a bit early but he will be front row.”
This time, Russell had him cover up, but he wasn’t sure why.
“His lap was unbelievable,” Russell said. Then obviously I got that yellow flag, the single yellow in the last sector, but I did a hundred meters lift, I lost a lot of time and still, you know… I don’t know. I have no answer.
“I’ll definitely see where it comes from with my team, but it felt really sweet.”
