The Briton had a small crash that damaged his front wing and left the team with work to do overnight after he locked up going into Turn 8, leading to him agreeing with Hamilton that it was a “really challenging Friday”.
“We were really off the pace today – we need to understand why that is,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll find some answers tonight.
WATCH: Russell crashes into the wall to bring his FP2 to an early close in Singapore
“We made some big changes from FP1 into FP2, but the car’s just not feeling that well connected as it was this time 12 months ago and in recent races, so we need to try and get to the bottom of it.
“There’s a lot of surprises out there – you’ve got the VCARBs really quick, you’ve got the Williams really quick. The Red Bulls seemed to be off the pace and there seems to be a big gap to the McLarens and the Ferraris, so as a minimum we hope to be in between that midfield gap and the front four, but right now we’ve got a lot of work on our hands.”
