Mercedes drivers George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli have reflected on a positive first day in Jeddah.
Emerging as a threat to McLaren in the first practice session, Russell and Antonelli slipped down the order in the second session. However, laps at the end of FP2 were curtailed by Yuki Tsunoda’s crash in the closing minutes. Nonetheless, the team enters qualifying day in a position to challenge for the front row of the grid.
Speaking after FP2, Russell said although his performance dropped off, he is confident of returning towards the top of the timesheets in FP3 and qualifying.
“It was a bit of a messy session to be honest, obviously we didn’t get many laps in at the end, definitely a bit worse off than we were in FP1, we were pretty pretty good in FP1, but sure there’s nothing we can’t solve overnight and come back stronger tomorrow.
“What were some of the things that you were able to take from that session, where the strengths are and maybe where some of those points are that you need to learn and work on
When asked where the strengths and weakness of the car after Friday, Russell said questions remain over long run pace.
“It always seems to sound the same, we’re just getting the most out of the tyres. think we tried some things, Kimi did some different things which was valuable to try and learn, I think we got a bit of a direction from that.
“I was intrigued to see the long run pace, but unfortunately with the red at the end, we didn’t manage to see that, but I think it’ll be a close battle again for the next best team and hopefully we can try and sneak up there, but McLaren are very good again.
Speaker 7
Thank you very much George, good luck this weekend.
Antonelli ‘looking forward’ to F1 Saudi Arabian GP qualifying
Team-mate Antonelli also reflected on a day of running where driver confidence is critical to a good weekend. However, he hinted did not know where his Friday pace would put him on the grid in qualifying.
“Well, it was quite fun today, the track is really good fun. Quite a tricky day, obviously it’s about trying to find every little detail because obviously it’s not an easy track and it’s really important to place the car very well, especially in that sector one.
“But overall I think it was quite positive. I think FP2 was looking pretty good, I was feeling good especially in the medium and on the soft I did a mistake in lap one and then obviously in lap two the tyre didn’t hold on as they could have, but overall I think it was a positive day and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
“It looks pretty tight, of course with everyone, but obviously we don’t know the fuel load, power of the others, what we’ve got to do is just focus on ourselves and trying to improve for tomorrow.“
