Russell: The task for Saturday is to interfere in the fight for pole position
The Mercedes team brought a number of technical innovations to Imola, and on the first day of work on the track, the racers analyzed the behavior of the tires of the new, softest C6 compound.
George Russell was pleased with the performance of the car and scored 4th in both sessions. Kimi Antonelli worked quite effectively on long series of laps, but in a car with a minimum amount of fuel in the tank, he failed to complete a representative lap.
George Russell (4th): "It's great to be back in Imola, because it's definitely one of my favorite tracks. It's quite narrow in places, but there's a good mix of slow, medium-speed, and fast turns. There are not many departure zones, and to show a really good time on the lap, you need to do your best.
The results in both sessions were quite solid, with some teams showing unexpectedly high speeds. As we expected, the McLaren drivers set the pace today – they will most likely be the favorites in tomorrow's qualifying.
The task for Saturday is to get involved in the fight for pole position, so tonight we will continue to work hard to find out how we can improve. If we succeed, hopefully we can close the gap to the leaders, and tomorrow's work on the track will be a pleasure."
Kimi Antonelli (18th): "In the short series of laps, I couldn't put everything together. I made some mistakes today, and it was not easy to achieve effective performance of the new C6 rubber in conditions of poor adhesion to asphalt.
On the other hand, I'm happy with the car's behavior over long laps, and overall it had a good balance. After today's two sessions, I know what needs to be worked on and what I need to do to achieve good results in qualifying and the race.
Of course, this is a special weekend for me. Already on the very first lap of morning practice, I saw how many fans had gathered in the stands. They energize us, and when I lower the visor, I feel ready to complete the task in front of me."
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Russell: The task for Saturday is to interfere in the fight for pole position
The Mercedes team brought a number of technical innovations to Imola, and on the first day of work on the track, the racers analyzed the behavior of the tires of the new, softest C6 compound...