“The problem was the engine in FP1, and then at the end it was a sensor failure, so we actually pitted as we thought we had a water leak, but we didn’t. So, it was feeling okay, it wasn’t feeling superb for me out there, I was struggling.”
Russell ran the mediums in FP1 and the hard compound in FP2, Mercedes the only team other than Alpine to test out the C3 rubber on Friday. But on a dirty and dusty track, that didn’t seem to help Russell get a feel for how the W15 is handling here, especially considering the team have reverted to the older spec floor on both cars.
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“I was definitely off the pace compared to Lewis, I was struggling with confidence in the car and getting the tyres in the right window, so I need to step up my game a bit for tomorrow and try and close that gap,” Russell concluded.
As for Hamilton, on paper his day was much better than Russell’s, with two top three finishes. But he remains unsure as to quite where Mercedes will slot into the pecking order, especially given the other teams at the front will likely be making a step up on Saturday with engine modes.
