George Russell: He has to watch out for these Mercedes opponents

The Formula 1 weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya got off to a promising start for George Russell. He completed 27 laps in the first practice session and was the fastest of all with a time of 1:16.363 minutes. In the second hour of practice, he led the timesheets for a long time, but was ultimately beaten by world champion Lando Norris.

However, he only just missed out on the best time of the day: the Mercedes driver, who had recently missed out on two Grands Prix, was only nine thousandths of a second faster than the best time of the day with his personal best time of 1:15.435 minutes on the 4.657 kilometre circuit. His daily balance was correspondingly positive.

Russell explained: "That was a solid day. After the recent run of bad luck, it was important to start the weekend with a lot of momentum and that's exactly what I managed to do. The car felt good in both sessions and, more importantly, it was consistent. That's particularly crucial on a track like this, as it relentlessly exposes a car's weaknesses."

Lots of headwind from the Mercedes opponents

Nevertheless, the 28-year-old, who has slipped to third place in the championship, is not expecting an easy game. Looking at his rivals, he emphasised: "It looks very close. The McLaren drivers were very strong on one lap. And the longer runs in the afternoon have shown that we also have to be prepared for a tough battle against Ferrari and Red Bull Racing."

Russell knows: "There are still a few things we can work on. But we have a good basis to build on. Small changes will probably make a big difference." And he adds confidently: "I'm confident about the rest of the weekend."

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