Belgian Grand Prix: How George Russell pulled off a qualifying lap that was hard to believe
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Radio and text coverage of the Belgian Grand Prix is live on the BBC Sport website
George Russell almost pulled off one of the biggest shocks in Formula 1 history when he came within a whisker of taking pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix with the uncompetitive Williams team.
Ultimately, the 23-year-old Briton was pipped by Red Bull's Max Verstappen with the final lap of the session, but to put a Williams second on the grid in such treacherous wet conditions on one of the world's most demanding tracks is a performance that will go down in history regardless.
It was the sort of lap of which legends are made, which motorsport aficionados will discuss in awed tones for years to come.
When this was put to Russell after the session, as he sat in the news conference alongside Verstappen and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, he said he was "quite surprised to hear that - there have been some pretty stellar qualifying performances and especially from these two guys to the left of me". But he did concede: "It was definitely a very good lap."
To put it into some kind of context, the Williams is the eighth quickest car on the grid. The team are eighth in the constructors' championship, with 10 points, compared with the 303 of leaders Mercedes.
At the previous race, they were thrilled to collect points with team-mate Nicholas Latifi and Russell in seventh and eighth places. Russell has made it into the lower reaches of the top 10 a couple of times this season, but his average grid position is 12.9.
This was so far out of the ordinary that it was almost impossible to believe what you were seeing, or to find words to describe it.
"The car was really on it in these wet conditions," Russell said, "and there is so much that has to go right - all the little details to give the driver confidence. You have to extract the most. I could put it all on the table and absolutely go for it."
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How did he do it?
Russell's lap came as a result of an approach to qualifying by the Williams team that Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, who manages the driver's career, described as "risky but clever".
The final session of qualifying was truncated because of the huge crash suffered by McLaren's Lando Norris, which brought out the red flags and made it clear that the conditions were too wet to continue.
When it resumed, there was little time left. Most teams decided to use it to do one flying lap, a slow lap to charge the battery, and one final flier.
Williams went a different route. They initially sent Russell out on full wet tyres to gauge the conditions, while most went immediately for the more lightly treaded intermediates. Russell pitted at the end of the lap for inters and did an out-lap, a so-called 'prep' lap and then the flier. He had one shot at it. It was all or nothing.
Williams engineering chief Dave Robson said: "We felt we could do two pushing laps or, with the track drying, go all in and aim for that one good lap at the end. We went for that, took the opportunity to do the prep lap and get the tyres in the right state and go for it. It worked out really well. It all came together nicely.
"Toto's description is probably perfectly fair. But we didn't have a huge amount to lose."
It is an approach that requires high levels of confidence from the driver, and remarkable ability.
Robson said: "His lap was extremely good. He made the most in every corner of what we were able to give him. It's hard to keep finding words to describe his performances. When he has a good session, he just gets better and better as the session goes on. He's brave but sensitive; quick, calm. Just a really good professional - brilliant lap, really."
Wolff said: "I looked at the onboards [camera footage] of all the drivers and from the beginning he is the only one who gains so much time in La Source [hairpin] because he is the only one on the apex.
"This is a factor of driving and and the right set-up and the tyre temperatures in the right window.
"He was very committed through Eau Rouge and the car looks good on the rest of the lap but it needs a driver to maximise that and exploit the full potential of the package or outperform the package. All that came together and we saw a brilliant lap from a brilliant young driver."
The result was a place on the front row, 0.321secs behind Verstappen and 0.013secs ahead of Hamilton, both of whom had produced eye-catching laps of their own, more than two seconds clear of their respective team-mates.
Russell has outperformed his team-mates at Williams
What about the Mercedes seat?
Russell's performance was stunning, and the context behind it adds further interest.
It is well known that Russell is in contention with Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas for the second Mercedes seat next year, and this was just the latest example of the superstar qualities that have led most to believe that Mercedes surely must pick Russell.
Senior figures in F1 have told BBC Sport that the decision is already made, and that it has gone Russell's way, something Mercedes are refusing to confirm.
This writer asked Wolff on Saturday if he had indeed already decided and was simply not saying what it was yet. He replied with a smile: "Yes. I have always been genuine with you."
Asked after the race on Sunday why in that case he had not simply announced his decision, Wolff said: "There are stakeholders involved we need to respect and as long as contracts are not signed it makes no sense to announce."
He said that he wanted to ensure both drivers' futures were secured, adding: "It's not only our call - there are other parties involved and we have to respect."
"If it would have been an easier decision we would have made it early," Wolff said, "because we know what we have with Valtteri and with George and both deserve to be looked after in the best possible way.
"They are both part of the [Mercedes] family and we hold them up high. There are pros and cons like with any driver line-up and there is no such thing as a perfect discussion.
"We just need to manage the situation well with whichever driver is not going to be in a Mercedes next year and make sure there is an exciting programme [for him]. And on the other side manage the station internally like we always have with Nico [Rosberg, Hamilton's former team-mate] and George."
Mentioning Rosberg was an intriguing thing for Wolff to do because it was Hamilton's fractious relationship with the German through their title fights in 2014-16 which Wolff has since said he wanted to avoid having to deal with again.
It's hard to be absolutely sure just how strong Russell would be over a season if he were promoted to Mercedes, but everything he has done so far in F1 suggests he is a driver of the very highest quality. Hamilton, of course, is the most successful of all time.
If it comes to pass next year, having the two of them in the same team is a mouth-watering prospect - and Russell feels the same way.
"Any driver wants to go against the best and Lewis is probably the greatest of all time," Russell said ahead of the Belgium weekend. "You want to pit yourself against the best and see how you fare.
"It would be an honour for anyone to get that opportunity. It's all hypothetical at the moment, but if I could choose to race against anybody as my team-mate, Lewis would be the one."
What is holding up the public confirmation of whether it is Russell or Bottas is unclear, but the suspicion is that Wolff wants the Finn's future firmed up first.
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