“The McLarens once more look very strong, and when they put the lap together they’re a step ahead, but we know that’s the case,” Russell conceded. “[And there are] a few other guys. Isack Hadjar is doing a really great job.
“He’s been really fast as well, which was quite a surprise, so we just don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring, and even Fernando [Alonso] before he went off was on a really fast lap as well. It’s a little bit unusual to see so many different teams in the mix, but I’d like to think we’ll be in that fight for the top four positions.”
Team mate Kimi Antonelli, meanwhile, was left to rue his lack of smooth running during second practice but spoke positively about how Free Practice 1 had gone, having ended that session in ninth on the timesheets.
“FP2 was pretty messy as well on my side, [I] couldn’t really get a clean lap,” the Italian explained. “Just lots of mistakes, especially in Sector 1, so it was not as clean as FP1. FP1 was actually looking pretty good, but definitely we will analyse tonight and see what we can do better tomorrow.”
In terms of whether he was able to gain a clear direction for those overnight improvements ahead of Saturday, Antonelli commented: “Yeah, definitely. [On the] long run, the last lap of course there was another red flag but it was looking very, very strong, so definitely I see where I can do better and make sure tomorrow I’ll improve.”
