How Russell's quick thinking produced unexpected pole

Image source, Getty Images Image caption, George Russell has been on pole position four times this season By Andrew Benson F1 Correspondent Published 20 minutes ago Quick thinking, experience and a "magic lap" came together to produce an unexpected pole position for George Russell at the Austrian Grand Prix. Many questions were raised by the events that immediately followed Max Verstappen's crash at Turn Nine on his final lap at the end of qualifying - but Russell's response to it was not one of them. The Briton, who needs a bit of luck after a troubled season so far, reacted correctly to the yellow flag zone and he leapfrogged the two Ferraris onto pole, when his team-mate Kimi Antonelli slowed down too much, and the time he set on his first lap was good enough only for fourth. Russell's judgement, to lift off just enough to satisfy the rules, but not so much that it wrecked his lap, was the difference between taking a much-needed pole and being fourth on the grid. The wider questions will continue, though. Why was only a single yellow waved initially when Verstappen spun across the gravel trap and hit the wall at the fastest corner on the track, taken at nearly 140mph? Why did it take 20 seconds for race control to decide it really should have been a double yellow - by which time everyone had already completed their laps? But in the circumstances that prevailed, it was Russell who read them correctly. Russell claims controversial pole after Verstappen crash Published 3 hours ago How to follow Austrian Grand Prix on the BBC Published 1 day ago Andrew Benson Q&A: Send us your questions Published 1 day ago Where did that come from? Russell had not looked a contender for pole in Austria for much of the weekend, and he lagged behind Antonelli in the first two qualifying sessions. But he found a groove in the third session, second fastest by just 0.043secs and then nailing a beauty of a final lap. "It's one of those, when you nail Turn One and you go through fast, but the car doesn't slide, it keeps the [tyre] temperatures a little bit down, so the tyres are cooler approaching the next turn, and then you have more grip, you go through there faster, and the tyres are cooler once again," Russell said. "It's this sort of upward spiral. And equally, if you have a bad Turn One, you're on this downward spiral. It just clicked. It's just one of those magic laps and I'm just so pleased, because it's been a real tough run for me." Russell fell to 68 points behind Antonelli in the championship after Monaco at the beginning of this month, where a penalty he should never have received dropped him from third to 12th. That followed his retirement from the lead in Canada, struggles for pace in Miami, and circumstances going against him in a couple of races early in the season. The only good luck he has had was at the last race in Spain when Antonelli retired having just passed Russell for second place behind Lewis Hamilton's winning Ferrari. Antonelli admitted on S