Mercedes drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli have had mixed Friday practice sessions after both drivers struggled to put down solid laps, with Antonelli notably saying, “It was quite messy” during Friday at the Imola GP.
Russell currently sits fourth in the Drivers’ World Championship and has yet to finish outside of the top five this season. He lies just six points behind third-placed Max Verstappen in the driver standings.
The Mercedes driver was only 0.054 seconds and 0.124 seconds behind the lead McLaren of Oscar Piastri during both Friday practice sessions at the Imola GP
When speaking to the media after the session, Russell said there were “A few surprises out there… Gasly put in a really strong lap, and that was a bit of a surprise.”
The speed of the Alpine came as a surprise to everyone in the paddock, with Pierre Gasly splitting the McLarens and Mercedes in FP2 with a P3 finish.
“But there’s a lot of tyre degradation; obviously we’ve got the softest compounds here, first time of the season, so that sort of spices things up a bit.“
Russell feels McLaren is “dominant” at Imola
McLaren has certainly been the most dominant team so far this weekend, with Russell saying McLaren has the biggest “advantage” this weekend.
“We know McLaren generally seem to extend their advantage in those conditions. I had Oscar in my sights, then I didn’t… he sort of passed Max and went off. That’s just where we are at the moment as a team, and we know our fight is with Max and the Ferraris.”
Russell further commented on whether he felt Mercedes was beginning to close in on McLaren during race runs, adding, “No, probably closer on the quali pace than we were on the race runs, to be honest.”
“We’re just going out there, we’ve got a few new bits on the car that seem to be performing OK,” the Briton stated. “We’re not setting the world on fire at the moment, but we’re just trying to be consistent and trying to pick up those points where we can.”
Antonelli admits to Friday practice being “not ideal.”
Antonelli has had a difficult start to his home weekend, finishing outside of the top ten during both practice sessions at the Imola GP.
When speaking to the media after practice, the young rookie admitted to the day being “quite messy, to be honest.”
He added, “The single lap I never really put together… in FP2 I did a mistake on top of the chicane and then the second lap I just couldn’t cool down the tyres enough, and the grip was not there anymore.”
“The single lap I never really put together… in FP2 I did a mistake on top of the chicane and then the second lap I just couldn’t cool down the tyres enough, and the grip was not there anymore.”
Antonelli further commented on how he has been managing all the attention being in front of his home fans for the first time in a Formula 1 car. “Well, for sure it’s really special to race in front of all the Tifosi. In FP1, the first lap, it was incredible to see so many of them in the grandstands.”
“Of course it’s really nice, but every time I put the visor down I always try to get as much as possible in the zone to do a good job.”
