Mercedes driver George Russell is convinced that McLaren is in pole position to make it successive Formula 1 victories at this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Lando Norris capitalised on McLaren introducing sizeable developments to its MCL38 car and a mid-race Safety Car to end his prolonged wait for an F1 win in Miami.
Despite languishing 12th on the timesheets at the end of the second practice session at Imola, Norris showcased the pace to rival Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at the top.
The Briton posted the fastest first and middle sectors on his Soft tyre run, but he overcooked it into the final corner and a wheel in the gravel saw him abandon the lap.
Amid Red Bull enduring a disastrous time on the race track, Russell – who ended FP2 in fifth, 0.405s down – has pinpointed McLaren as the team to beat this weekend.
“I was feeling great today and I think Lewis [Hamilton] and I both had a really good feeling behind the wheel,” Russell reviewed.
“Which was really nice and we looked reasonably competitive, slightly closer than we showed in Miami.
“I’m sure everybody will find out come qualifying where we truly stand.
“I think McLaren still probably look in the favourites at the moment and probably the quickest again, they’ve been so fast since China.”
Mercedes has brought several updates to its W15 car this weekend, which Russell hailed as a “step forward” as the squad strives to turn around its ongoing struggles.
Despite both Mercedes drivers ending up inside the top five places as Hamilton wound up fourth, Russell has predicted that qualifying will transpire to be a tight affair.
“The team have been working so hard to bring these parts sooner than they probably ordinarily would have been coming and that’s so great to see the motivation within the team and everyone’s just pushing forward even though we’ve had a tough couple of races,” he beamed.
“Everybody wants to make this better, everybody wants to improve and, as I said, the car was feeling really good today.
“So, we’ll find out tomorrow where we end up in the pecking order. It looks pretty close, it’s obviously a short lap around here, 1 minute 16, so I’m sure it’s going to be fine margins.”
Russell also admitted that the return to the conventional weekend schedule after two bouts of the Sprint configuration in China and Miami issued a welcome change.
“I have been enjoying the Sprint format, but sometimes in the sport when you have no testing, we’re not allowed to practice, we can’t just take the car and try new things,” he said.
“We’re the only sport in the world where you’re only allowed 60 minutes of practice before you do your competition.
“So, we feel fortunate this week to have three hours of practice, still not a lot, but it’s definitely come at a good time for everyone.”
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