Russell qualified fourth for Saturday’s sprint at Interlagos, and after a good first lap got up to second, having passed Sergio Perez and the Lando Norris.
But he couldn’t maintain that form and lost out to both drivers as he dropped back to fourth, eventually finishing over 25 seconds shy of sprint winner Max Verstappen.
Russell said the drop-off in performance had not been anticipated by the team: “Yeah, really unexpected. We didn't expect to be the fastest, we thought we'd be a couple of tenths behind Max. Maybe similar pace to Lando.
“But clearly, we got something wrong today. As always, [it was] down to tyres, the tyres just dropped off, [it is the] story of everybody's season. And we need to rectify it, because that was a disappointment.
“We know how sensitive the tyres are to the conditions. So it's going to be four or five degrees colder tomorrow, that might transform everything. So not all is lost yet. I guess everybody in the paddock wished they understood it, but it's a bit of black magic.”
Russell was frustrated that he wasn’t able to make the most of his strong first lap, especially his bold move for second on Norris.
“It was a good start,” he said. “I sort of had that Turn 10 lined up as an overtaking opportunity, we were fast in Turn 8-9. And I felt that was my chance, so glad to make that stick. Just a shame we went backwards.
Source: Autosport