Qualifying proved to be a disaster for George Russell as the Brit was knocked out in Q2 at the inaugural Miami Grand Prix.

The 24-year-old Mercedes driver had gone fastest in FP2 yesterday afternoon as he looked set to challenge for a good grid slot.

However, it turned into a nightmare Saturday as he could only manage P12. Such was the dramatic backward step in qualifying, his Q2 time was 0.235s slower than his P1 benchmark in FP2.

While admitting to MotorLAT and other media outlets that it was a surprise to exit in Q2 after his Friday form, he also said it wasn’t a shock after the way it felt through final practice and the first two segments of qualifying. He continued saying that he experienced porpoising through a whole corner for the first time.

“It's definitely a surprise, but after driving the car and the experience of how it felt, it's no surprise. Today it felt like a totally different beast.

“It's the first time I've ever felt it [porpoising] all the way through a corner, through turn 4 and turn 5 it was just bouncing through it all and into all of the braking zones.”

“It's a shame because we were slower today than we were yesterday.

Asked how it felt to suffer with porpoising through a corner, Russell explained the lack of feeling from the rear of the car. A snap through turns 4 and 5 in Q2 showed how much he was struggling with it.

A disappointing qualifying for George Russell, struggling with his porpoising W13 😕

The Mercedes driver starts in P12 for the Grand Prix #MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/m1nKIQz0vp

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 7, 2022

“The rear of the car is hopping around; you just don't have any support or stability from the rear.

“Yesterday we were fiying through sector one and had so much confidence in the car. Suddenly it was a totally different beast today.”