Russell: I hope we can make it into the top five.

      Mercedes are modest in assessing Friday’s results at Spielberg, but hope to make progress on Saturday...

      George Russell (6th): “There were some issues, but overall the results were in line with expectations. In the second session the balance got a bit worse, so we’ll analyze everything overnight and tomorrow we'll try to regain the feeling we had in the first practice.

      We’ll do everything possible tomorrow, but judging by McLaren’s pace, fighting for pole will be difficult. I hope we can get into the top five.

      Spielberg has abrasive asphalt; recently, we haven’t been handling this type of surface very well, but we'll keep working hard on optimizing the car. We’ll see what comes of it in the end.”

      Kimi Antonelli (11th): “It was a tough day, but we learned a lot. I felt comfortable in practice, but the track here is so short it’s difficult to put together a good lap. I wasn’t able to set a good time on the Soft tyres, having made a few mistakes. I’ll try to avoid them in the third practice when we’ll be preparing for qualifying.

      At the same time, on the long runs, the pace and the car’s balance were good. The abrasive asphalt makes things tougher for us, but I hope the recent updates will allow us to achieve more. We know what we need to work on and hope we can make another step forward.”