George Russell has admitted Mercedes did not perform as well as the team had hoped for on Friday at the F1 Dutch GP, having finished P4 in FP2 with teammate Kimi Antonelli finding the gravel after just one lap in FP1.
Russell: Mercedes “not as close to the front as we’d like” at F1 Dutch GP
Coming into the first round since the summer break, Mercedes will have been feeling confident off the back of a positive performance in Hungary, where Russell scored a third-place finish on the podium.
The British driver ended Friday’s FP1 session in seventh place, but seemed to become more comfortable as the day went on, recording a P4 finish in the second practice session.
“I felt good out there to be honest,” he said, speaking in the media pen after FP2. “It was great to be back driving again after a couple of weeks out.
“Conditions for everybody were really tricky. It was really windy and this circuit has a lot of sort of 180-degree corners, so when it is windy and gusty the car is going through sort of that whole phase of a corner, so it’s sort of more exposed than on other circuits, maybe like Silverstone where it’s a little bit sort of in and out of the corner.”
These conditions proved to be particularly difficult for Mercedes, with Russell stating that they were hoping to have finished higher up the grid.
“[In terms of] competitiveness, maybe not quite as close to the front as we’d like, but the race pace looks okay, sort of in the usual mix,” he said.
Russell: Aston Martins are ones to watch ahead of F1 Dutch GP
Aston Martin has looked particularly strong this weekend, with Lance Stroll completing FP1 in third and Fernando Alonso finishing in P2 in FP2. This comes after an impressive showing in Hungary, where both drivers took the chequered flag in the top seven.
Asked whether the British team might be Mercedes’ main competition for the weekend, Russell explained how those results had come as a shock.
“These last couple of races have been really surprising,” he said. “Aston [Martin] obviously had a really bad run of form, and then they were really on it in Hungary and made a great result. Here they look fast.
“Ferrari have seemed really off the pace today, but I’m sure that can turn very quickly as well.
“And same with Max, he had a tough race in Hungary, I think that was more of an outlier. So, as it stands it looks like a bit of a fight with the Astons, with Max and with ourselves, but I’m sure Ferrari will get in there.”
Another shock for Russell came in the midst of FP2 when Oscar Piastri pulled out in front of him in the pitlane, causing the Briton to brake heavily. McLaren were fined for the incident.
“I think [Piastri] pulled in a bit too early, pulled back out, so just a bit unfortunate,” said Russell. “But it scared me a bit.
“When you’re on track you’re sort of ready for anything, but when you’re in the pit lane going relatively very slow, you’re just chilling out. I was looking at my screen; I was like, ‘oh geez!’ Yeah, caught me by surprise.”
Antonelli talks FP1 crash: “not ideal”
Kimi Antonelli suffered a tricky Friday at the F1 Dutch GP. A snap of oversteer during FP1 sent him into the gravel at Turn 9 and left him beached there, bringing out the red flags. He did not return to the track until the second practice session of the day, where he finished P12.
Speaking about his crash after FP2, he explained the crash was caused by overexertion on the car.
“I was pushing pretty hard early on in FP1, and then I locked up, and then I got beached, and my session was over after just one lap,” he said. “It was obviously not ideal because I lost some mileage and didn’t do any laps, basically. In FP2, I kind of had to build my rhythm.”
That said, Antonelli was confident the team knows where improvements can be made – as long as the weather stays dry.
“There’s quite a bit of work to do,” he said. “But we know where to improve, and now looking forward to tomorrow.
“We’ll see how the weather is going to be, but if it’s going to be dry, we’ll try to improve those few things, and then I think it was a decent session. Of course there were quite a few mistakes during the lap, but yeah, we’ll try to be ready for tomorrow.”
