Russell buoyed by Mercedes potential despite disrupted Friday

George Russell has spied an opportunity for Mercedes to compete at the Italian Grand Prix for pole and the win, despite missing most of Friday practice.

Russell sat out FP1 at Monza to allow Andrea Kimi Antonelli to complete the first of the mandatory rookie practice sessions, but the Mercedes protege crashed just 10 minutes into the session.

Mercedes was able to repair the W15, but it cost Russell 23 minutes of track time in FP2, meaning he lost nearly 75% of the Friday running, and ran a contra-programme as a result. 

A late push on soft tyres allowed him to jump up to sixth as Lewis Hamilton topped the session in the sister car, with Russell hopeful despite “not the most productive Friday” of his career.

“Firstly I was glad to see that Kimi was okay, it was a big crash and the mechanics did a great job to get the car ready for FP2,” he said.

“There was delay, but I still managed to get half an hour in and the car seems fast, but I need to review with my team.

“I only got three or four push laps in, so it wasn’t the most productive Friday I’ve ever had. 

“We were on the old parts for FP2, Lewis on the new stuff which I think was working as expected, so tomorrow we’ll be pretty confident in proceeding with it.”

Russell’s staying alive

Looking ahead to the race, Russell felt that the high tyre degradation offered an opportunity for Mercedes, but only if it stayed “alive” to the changing conditions.

“It was a bit of a strange one, with the track being resurfaced this year,” he said.

“It is ramping up every single lap and there seems to be quite a lot of degradation, but that could potentially change for Sunday. 

“We just need to be alive to the situation and see how that evolves during the race.”