Russell concedes Mercedes 'definitely underperformed' in Italian Grand Prix Qualifying

George Russell believes "we definitely underperformed" during Qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix, with the two Mercedes drivers set to start from the third row.

The Briton qualified sixth, over three-tenths slower than polesitter Max Verstappen at Monza on Saturday, but will start fifth for the race with Lewis Hamilton set to serve a five-place grid penalty.

Russell was left frustrated having topped Q1 on the medium tyre compared with everyone else on the soft compound, and asked for the yellow-walled rubber for his final Q3 lap.

However, he was given a set of softs and failed to improve, leaving him to question why Mercedes seemed to lose pace through the one-hour session on Saturday.

"It was looking pretty good at one point. Obviously quickest in Q1, I was pretty happy on those mediums," he said.

"Q2 wasn't too bad either but we just got slower as the session progressed so that was a real shame, we definitely underperformed in Q3.

"I'm sure we'll have some answers. Obviously a bit of miscommunication with the tyre choice. P5 starting tomorrow, it's not amazing but hopefully we can fight from there."

Team mate Kimi Antonelli put in an impressive performance in front of his home crowd, finishing seventh quickest and less than one-tenth slower than Russell.

The 20-year-old believes more was possible but a small car change ahead of his final run put him on the back foot.

"Much better Qualifying. It was very tight, was not easy out there but I think overall [it] was a decent job and [the] last lap was not great," said Antonelli, who will start from P6 after Hamilton's penalty.

"There was more on the table, especially I struggled with the rear quite a bit because also we tried something a little bit different with the tyre temperature and I struggled a little bit first part of the lap.

"I think on my side I could have done a little bit better as well, but still P6 for tomorrow so we can not complain too much."