Russell: The car is capable of good speed again

      George Russell was pleased with the way he drove a lap in qualifying mode during practice: he showed the 2nd time, second only to Oscar Piastri. At the same time, he was not entirely satisfied with the pace of the long series of laps. Kimi Antonelli, his Mercedes team-mate, finished the day on the 6th line of the protocol.

      George Russell (2nd): "The qualifying run was quite decent – after a few difficult races, it was nice that the car was capable of good speed again. Racing on the Barcelona circuit is great, it's a pleasure, and we managed to complete a lot of laps today.

      At the same time, the pace on the long series is not great, although recently we have been focusing all our efforts on increasing the racing pace. We have tried different approaches, conducted experiments with both machines, and now we have to analyze all the information collected. I'm sure we can make a step forward tomorrow, so let's see how the next two days turn out."

      Kimi Antonelli (6th): "It was an interesting Friday; I had difficulties in the first laps with minimal fuel load in the first session, the car was prone to vertical rocking, which was especially pronounced on the high-speed sections of the track.

      However, during the second practice session, everything was already better, with each lap I drove more confidently and was able to get into a good rhythm, including on short runs.

      We deliberately took a slightly different approach to the long series compared to George, and now we will need to take the time to analyze the data collected during the day in detail in order to determine the direction of work for the rest of the weekend.

      Nevertheless, I see that we are making progress, and after we work tonight, we can hopefully perform at a competitive level this weekend."