Russell surprised by McLaren: “Norris’ race pace seems better than ours”

Complicated start In abstinence from winning the first GP of the season and eager to recover more points on Andrea Kimi Antonelli after the ‘gift’ received in Barcelona thanks to the Italian’s withdrawal, George Russell started the weekend of the Austrian GP not very well. After recording the second fastest time in FP1 – behind Antonelli in any case – in the afternoon session the Englishman fell back, finishing the session in sixth place, over six tenths behind his rival. However, analyzing the session on the official F1 channel, Russell explained that he was impressed above all by the performance of the McLarens. Papaya danger “The FP1 session was a good session for both of us Mercedes, but then in FP2 the McLarens seemed to fly, honestly – said Russell – their pace both on the race pace and on the single lap seemed quite good. In FP1 more than our strength it was the others who were having problems. I could see from the screens that there were several cars in the pits: Lando only came out at the end, Max and Lewis had problems, this probably made us look better than we actually were in FP1, but the car still looked good. But the real surprise was the McLarens’ first lap in FP2: they went straight to the top and their race pace, especially from Lando’s point of view, was better than ours. Qualifying? We have the asphalt at 60°C, so it certainly won’t be difficult to warm up the tires. The conditions are not easy, it will be about having the right balance along the entire track”, concluded the #63 Mercedes.

Automobile Magazine – Formula1 English, News

2026-06-27 03:56:00