George Russell was perplexed by Ferrari's pace after he was left trailing behind Lewis Hamilton and qualified only fifth for Saturday's sprint race at the British Grand Prix.
The 28-year-old breathed fresh life into his championship hopes with an impressive win in Austria last weekend, cutting the gap to teammate and title leader Kimi Antonelli to 40 points.
But Russell was off the pace throughout sprint qualifying at Silverstone on Friday and finished it 0.357 seconds adrift of pole sitter Hamilton.
Antonelli joins Hamilton, who is six points behind Russell in the standings, on the front row with Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc also separating Russell from the front of the grid.
Russell, who is chasing a first Silverstone win this weekend, was left baffled by the performance of Hamilton and Ferrari.
"Very surprised, very surprised. They [Ferrari] have been on the back foot with power unit and energy management, but here they look the best at the moment," Russell said.
"We have always known they have a great chassis.
"Some things aren't quite making sense," he said. "If I were to have predicted, I would have said Ferrari fast last weekend and us to be quick this week. But Ferrari have had the upper hand all day.
"Relative lap time just not really there. We need to understand for tomorrow, the more important day."
Antonelli missed out on the pole by just 0.011 seconds after a strong final lap in SQ3.
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The Italian rued time left on the track, but the 19-year-old is relishing the competition from Hamilton.
"It was so, so close. and it was a shame. A little bit left on the table, but it was a decent lap and we focus on tomorrow now," Antonelli said.
"The car felt good. Ferrari have done an incredible step forward. Lewis is in great form, but that's good -- we like the challenge."
Reigning world champion Lando Norris, who clinched a maiden win on home soil 12 months ago, also had a difficult session in front of 16,000 fans packed into his "Landostand."
The McLaren driver will start Saturday's 17-lap dash from sixth, one place ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri.
