The weekend in Hungary saw Formula 1 turn upside down.
The team was lost on Friday. The drivers stayed at the track until 11pm after their car was off the pace in practice.
It was a good job. Their car was on pole position for the first time this season on Saturday, and their average deficit to the pace over a single lap has been more than one second.
Mercedes were in front of the other teams. Red Bull was down in 10th place.
George Russell was known as "Mr Saturday" in F1 because of his outstanding performance in qualification. His record of finishing in the top five in every race has earned him the title of "Mr Consistency". Mr Saturday returned with vengeance.
At last year's Belgian Grand Prix, Russell stuck the second slowest car in the field on the front row in the wet, ahead of Hamilton, and it was the best performance of his career.
It's not any more. This one was the top one for Russell.
He chuckled and said it was better than the Spa one.
"The feeling of this pole and the feeling of that Spa lap, I don't think I will ever have a qualification lap that will come close to those two feelings."
We had a hard time at Williams. It was huge that we got that second.
Racing is about this. This is the reason I wake up and want to be a world champion. You can't really imagine it.
Russell would rank a lap around a dusty little circuit tucked in a natural amphitheatre about 12 miles outside of Budapest in the dry, as better than one in the pouring rain around Spa, renowned as one of the greatest challenges for a racing driver on the planet.
The unique nature of the Hungaroring made it the best of his career so far, according to Russell.
He said that the circuit is so fast and flowing that nothing comes close. It's not easy to compare, but for pure driving, the one today is probably the one.
"I think we nailed it today and got every last second out of it," he said.
The next thought after seeing Russell's name at the top of the timesheets was how it had happened.
Russell's car lacked grip and he was eighth fastest on Friday.
The final practice was held in the wet on Saturday.
Things looked up suddenly in qualification. The Mercedes were first and second fastest in the first session and looked decent in the second session, with Hamilton fifth and Russell seventh.
And then the third one. Mercedes were aided by Verstappen's engine problem and a less-than- perfect final lap from Sainz. The Spaniard thought he would have been on the pole. He didn't. Russell definitely did.
Russell thinks they got it in the window on the last lap. Everything was in the window when I went around the first and second turns.
It just keeps on coming when you're on one of those laps.
They weren't sure what they were seeing in the Mercedes pit.
The first sector came in and we could see the time was running. I told the engineers I thought they were playing for pole. On the other side, there was no sound.
I thought after sector two that it would be very tight. In F1, these are the moments I remember the most. The performance is there and we do it.
Wolff said that George's first pole would always be special. This is a good time to remember.
George had extraordinary performances in the junior series and in Spa last year in the rain, and today is another milestone of the many he is going to achieve.
This wouldn't have been possible on Friday, so what miracle did Mercedes pull off to turn the car around to this extent?
Russell said that Friday was the most difficult of the season.
We were all scratching our heads until 11pm last night, and then we came back and grabbed pole position 24 hours later, and I know what it was like.
If we're going in the right direction, there were more chats. Yesterday was a disaster for us as a team.
There were many reasons as to why we were off the pace. It felt like we were giving something back.
We turned it around and we are probably back to where we wanted to be.
Wolff said that this season has been a mixture of exuberance and depression. Yesterday we tried things that didn't work and that gave us a direction for today.
Both drivers were praised for their determination in the face of difficulties, but he had special words for Russell.
He showed leadership in the meeting yesterday. The two drivers at different stages of their careers were a force to keep the spirits high, and he was the one that kept being positive about things.
On a good day, it was a sad one. The joy for Russell was counterbalanced by the fact that Hamilton could have been up there, too, had it not been for his last run.
It was a long time since Mercedes had a pole in its least competitive season. It will be difficult for Russell to win his first game.
The Hungaroring is a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult, Verstappen is probably out of the picture after an engine problem consigned him to 10th on the grid.
The Mercedes is usually quicker in a race than in a qualification. Russell will be very shocked if that is the case.
Russell said that the race pace was unknown. We turned the car upside down because the weather is going to be cooler tomorrow.
The high- fuel pace was the worst it has ever been. The car looked great. We're behind the curve but we're going for it and we're going for victory.
He said that he was thinking about the run off the line, Turn One, and what he would have to do to win the race.
It's great to have a pole position, but I've learned a lot this year as well. Sunday is when the points and prizes are won.
If you have a faster race car it's more important than if you have a slower one.
The other cars will find a way past if the race is a two- or three-stop affair.
This has been a big day for Mercedes, even if the win is too far.
Russell said he was happy for what it meant for the team as a whole.
Going into the summer break and being able to qualify was huge. We can be happy that we have had at least one good Saturday from the first 12 or 13 races.
We've had a tough season. One of my strengths has been my ability to qualify. I have struggled a bit this year, but I always knew if the car and myself were working perfectly together, we could achieve great things.
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