Russell: We don’t expect to be able to surprise everyone all at once

At Friday’s practice in Barcelona, ​​the Mercedes drivers weren’t among the fastest and Lewis Hamilton didn’t make the top ten at all, but neither he nor George Russell had much to complain about the upgraded car, which had its first proper test on the track. And both expressed hope that they could add Saturday.

Lewis Hamilton (11th): “In general, the car left a normal impression and we tried to work as efficiently as possible during practice. But to be honest, the first day of the weekend was tough, we just couldn’t get the tires to work properly. We have also experienced its increased degradation.

Of course, the behavior of the car is very different from Monaco, and I can say that with the pace on long sets of circles we are not so bad. But now we have to work on understanding how to get more out of the car in one fast lap.

George Russell (8th): “It was fun to drive on the updated track configuration, and now the corner, which could be called one of the worst in Formula 1, has become perhaps one of the best. This moment was a pleasure, but today is only Friday and we have collected a huge amount of information that now needs to be analyzed in detail.

We understand that our business often doesn’t go so well on Fridays, but on Saturdays and Sundays we usually manage to improve. However, everything is developing as it is, because many teams have upgraded their cars and we don’t expect to be able to surprise everyone all of a sudden.

Now it is our task to handle the information collected as carefully as possible, to draw the necessary conclusions and to better prepare for tomorrow.”

Andrew SchovlinChief Race Engineer: “During the first session it was difficult to determine the power ratios because we had to work with extra sets of prototype tyres, and this forced everyone to deviate from their usual plan.

Our program during the first training session was mainly focused on working with new tyres, as it enabled us to gather information that will be useful to us at Silverstone, where a full-fledged premiere of such rubber will take place.

The second session was already more normal and we came to fairly expected conclusions. The pace of one fast lap still has work to do, and the long run of laps went well.

We tested the car’s performance with two wing settings, and it was helpful because it allowed us to collect a large amount of information that now needs to be analysed. We have an explanation of what’s stopping us from showing a faster pace and what changes need to be made to the settings, so I’m hoping that by Saturday morning we can find solutions that will overcome today’s problems.