After a dismal weekend in Monte Carlo, Mercedes seemed off to a slow start at the 2025 F1 Spanish GP with drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli failing to keep up with the likes of McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in Free Practice 1.
While their performance was undoubtably due to their different approach to FP1, with the team opting against running the soft tyres, Russell’s P11 and Antonelli’s P18, ironically the positions that they were classified at the end of the race in Monaco, seemed unencouraging, especially with McLaren’s Lando Norris more than a second faster.
However, Free Practice 2 (FP2) painted a more positive picture for the Brackley-based team, with Russell proving himself a potential challenger for points on Sunday. The British driver set the pace for a period of time during the session, before being displaced by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Piastri went on to finish the session at the top of the timesheets with a 1:12.760. Russell, with a best time of 1:13.046, settled for P2, just over two-hundredths of a second ahead of Verstappen in P3 and Norris in P4. Antonelli, meanwhile, finished P6, just 0.038 seconds behind Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Mercedes “pretty decent” in Qualifying runs but improvements needed for long-run pace
Reflecting on his Friday performance at the 2025 F1 Spanish GP, Russell described Mercedes’ performance in Qualifying simulations as promising, though he acknowledged that work was needed to improve their long-run pace. While he underscored that Mercedes would work to understand their short-comings compared to their rivals, he admitted that issue was a persisting one.
“In the Quali runs we looked pretty decent, so it was nice to be back where the car has been after some tough races. Nevertheless, the long run pace doesn’t look superb and that has been an objective of ours recently, to try and improve the long run pace.”
“We need to go through the data, we need to compare how we fell out compared to our rivals, but definitely the long run pace is a small concern.”
Though not Friday’s top performer, Russell believes that he is in a good place and is eager to see what the rest of the weekend has in store.
“Yeah, I feel in a good place. I’m enjoying driving this circuit, it felt good out there today, it’s hot. Let’s see what the next two days bring.”
Antonelli aiming for stronger Saturday at the 2025 F1 Spanish GP
Meanwhile, Kimi Antonelli continued to adapt to the demands of Formula 1. Although his day was not without issues, including reports of excessive bouncing and a moment at Turn 9, the young Italian remained upbeat about the car’s improvement between sessions. He noted better rhythm and confidence during his FP2 runs.
“We need to check on the floor, but definitely I was suffering a little bit of bouncing, especially in high speed and it was a bit more than usual, so we need to check whether it did something to the floor,” Antonelli explained.
Despite the bouncing, Antonelli believes that his confidence improved for FP2, allowing him a smoother session, at least with the single-lap Qualifying simulations.
“Already from single lap [running] I was struggling a little bit with the bouncing in high speed. But overall I think the car was much better in FP2, I was feeling much more confident compared to FP1 and I was able to get into the rhythm, especially single lap [runs].
However, like his teammate, he acknowledged some difficulties in the longer runs, despite having taken a different approach. He added that he and Mercedes planned to evaluate their findings as the prepared for Saturday’s sessions at the 2025 F1 Spanish GP.
“On long runs, I had a bit of a different approach compared to George and I was quite a bit quicker in the beginning and then a bit slower in the end, so I will need to check tonight in order to find the right balance for what it’s going to be on Sunday.”
