According to George Russell, Ferrari is currently the benchmark in Monaco. The Scuderia topped the timesheets in both free practice sessions on Friday, while Mercedes had to settle for positions just outside the top three. Russell ended the day as the strongest Mercedes driver and sees that his team still has work to do ahead of Saturday’s decisive qualifying session.
“We expected Ferrari to be the team to beat,” Russell said. “Many people thought that was just talk, but it’s clear they are the best. Red Bull has also been a bit of a surprise for us. We knew from the Grands Prix so far that this would be our most challenging race. It’s probably been a bit more challenging than we had hoped, but we did make good improvements from the first to the second free practice session.”
Despite that progress, the Brit realizes that Mercedes still needs to take a step forward. “We need to make that same step overnight, and I don’t think we managed to do that today, so there’s still room for improvement, but Ferrari is definitely the team.” Russell pointed to a pattern that he believes has been visible in Monaco for years. “Honestly, the trends we see with Ferrari every year, both here and on street circuits, and what we saw today, have been there for about ten years. Every car has an inherent DNA, and their inherent DNA, especially on the mechanical side of the car, clearly works well on these street circuits. We are doing everything we can to implement those improvements. I think we can catch up, but if we take too many risks, I’m not sure.”
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Setup
Mercedes experimented with different setups for Russell and Kimi Antonelli during the first practice, before both drivers chose the same direction in the second session. “We chose two different options in the first free practice,” Russell said. “There was clearly one way that was better, and in the second free practice, I immediately felt much more comfortable – but we are behind Ferrari.”
Championship leader Antonelli also acknowledged that it was not an easy Friday. “It wasn’t the easiest Friday of the season,” the Italian added. “I struggled with the car, especially in the middle sector, and that limited our pace. We tried many different setups and collected a lot of good data. That will help us evaluate what we need to do tonight and what adjustments we need to make for the third free practice and qualifying.” Nevertheless, he remains confident of a turnaround. “Ferrari seems to be in a very strong position. We know they generally perform well in Monaco, and they certainly seem favorites for qualifying. However, we know we still have more time to optimize the car, as we haven’t found the perfect setup yet. Hopefully, we can take a step forward and compete for the win on Saturday.”
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