Mercedes’ Toughest Friday of the Season — But Russell Isn’t Ruling Out Pole
Mercedes rolled out a fresh upgrade in Sepang — reworked floor edge, sidepods and rear diffuser — meant to close the gap to Red Bull. In practice, it mostly closed the mouths of the optimists. George Russell looked reasonably sharp in first practice, second and just four tenths off Verstappen, before the afternoon session turned on its head: seventh for him, eighth for rookie Kimi Antonelli, both after mistakes on their qualifying simulation runs.
The problems were no mystery — tyre management and set-up. “We’re a bit off the pace,” Russell admitted, adding the team needs set-up adjustments. Both Mercedes drivers ran off track on softs during FP2, and their tyre degradation outpaced Red Bull’s — something Russell’s radio chatter with his engineer confirmed in no uncertain terms.
Still, Russell isn’t writing off Saturday. He acknowledged Verstappen’s pace and McLaren’s improvement, but added a terse “never say never” on pole position. Deputy team principal Bradley Lord called it “one of our toughest Fridays of the season,” while staying confident overnight data crunching can turn things around before qualifying.
Source: Formula1.com
