Russell suffers 'weird' crash as he struggles for speed

Formula One title contender George Russell said he was struggling for ​straight-line speed after suffering a 'weird' crash in qualifying at his home British ‌Grand Prix on Saturday.

The Mercedes driver qualified only fourth while 19-year-old championship-leading teammate Kimi Antonelli secured pole position for Sunday's race at Silverstone.

Winner of the previous round in Austria, Russell has so far failed to ​carry the momentum over to Britain as Antonelli goes from strength to strength -- ​winning Saturday's sprint race and extending his championship lead to 43 points.

"I ⁠have raced here for 12 years and I have never locked up once in ​that corner before," said Russell of his excursion across the gravel and into the wall ​at Luffield.

"We made some changes to the set-up but it was probably more extreme than we thought. I don't know what happened. It was weird."

Russell managed to salvage his session to progress to ​the final top-10 shootout but Antonelli, in only his second season, always had the ​measure of him.

"This whole weekend we have been struggling with straight-line speed, we don't know why," the ‌Briton ⁠told Sky Sports television.

"There is a couple of tenths over a lap, compared to all the other Mercedes (engined) cars, so I don't really know why that is. The team are working super hard to try and understand."

While the 28-year-old Russell suffered, Antonelli reaped the ​plaudits of pundits and ​team boss Toto ⁠Wolff.

The sprint win was his first in the shortened format and also the first since he went on a run of five ​grand prix victories in a row from China to Monaco -- ​a sequence ⁠Hamilton ended in Spain last month.

"It's impressive how he's calm and kills with a smile. It's a pleasure to watch," said Austrian Wolff. "There's no mistakes, he's really performing, considering it's his ⁠second ​year, at such a high level."

Jenson Button, Britain's 2009 ​champion with the Brawn team that became Mercedes, was also impressed.

"That was amazing, really impressive." he said after ​the qualifying session. "It feels like nothing fazes him."