George Russell has picked Sergio Perez as the surprise contender for the F1 Hungarian GP after the Mexican surprised everyone with his pace on Friday. Perez has struggled a lot in his Red Bull recently. Ever since McLaren brought the upgrade in Miami and the gap and the front closed up, Perez has struggled.
Since the race in Miami, Sergio Perez has not been on the podium even once, with his best result after that weekend being P7. Hence, it was a surprise for everyone when Sergio rocked up to the F1 Hungarian GP and looked the part.
While George Russell was about half a second slower than the benchmark time set by Lando Norris in FP2, Sergio Perez was quicker than the Mercedes driver. George has been in good form recently and was in pole position at Silverstone as well.
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Looking back at the day, the Mercedes driver's verdict was that anything can happen. He did, however, have a surprise pick, as George Russell felt that Sergio Perez could be a contender as well. As quoted by Racingnews365, he said,
"I think anything can happen, and I am excited to see what we can do. We will be in the mix again for the top four positions, and Checo seemed quite quick, so that might be a bit of a surprise having a fight there as well. He was really quick."
George Russell feels Lando Norris and Max Verstappen a step ahead of Mercedes
Looking at the long runs and the overall running in Fp1 and Fp2, George Russell felt that both Lando Norris and Max Verstappen were a step ahead of everyone else. The driver did allude to the fact that the temperatures were playing a role in the relative pecking order as Mercedes was competitive against Red Bull and McLaren in colder conditions but has taken a step back in hotter conditions. He said,
"We definitely got more laps in than most in the long runs across FP1 and FP2, the McLarens are looking really quick and to be honest, Lando is flying at the moment. I don't think Max is too far behind, and there is probably a power difference between those two in qualifying and then in the race run, Lando and Max look a little bit out in front."
He added,
"We need to understand because in the hot conditions of Austria and Barcelona, we were off the pace versus those two drivers, and in the cooler conditions of Silverstone and Montreal, we were ahead. It is something we need to work on."
George Russell has already secured two pole positions and a win this season. It will be interesting to see if he can continue the momentum in Hungary.
