George Russell feels Mercedes is 'on the tail end' after the 2023 F1 Canadian GP

George Russell is not confident of the qualifying pace of the Mercedes, particularly with the wet weather forecast for the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix. However, the Briton feels they could be more competitive in the race.

Reflecting upon the learning from the second free practice session, Russell said:

“Between Barcelona and here, they are two totally different circuits. Barcelona is a super smooth high-speed circuit, here it’s incredibly bumpy. I do think the upgrades we brought to the car in Barcelona have helped the limitations that we probably would have more of with the old specification of car."

"We need to find out where we’re going to be, I think we’re still on the tail end, especially on qualifying pace compared to Ferrari and Aston Martin. They might even. Valtteri looked quick, Alpine too. We always know it comes to us on a Sunday that’s when it’s going to matter. Looks to be wet tomorrow, let’s see what it brings," he added.

Asked if the rain and mixed grip conditions could mix it up for them, George Russell said:

“That’s what I tried last year, put slicks on when it was wet and backed into a wall. So I will think twice this time before we do that. Obviously we are here to try and get some good results. Everybody has put so much of hard work in and sometimes you’ve got to roll the dice when you’re in our position. But we were strong here in qualifying last here. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.”

Suggesting that the Barcelona upgrades have ironed out some of the limitations on their car, Russell feels the bumpy Canadian circuit makes it difficult to handle the new generation F1 cars. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen and similar complaints about the track surface as they debriefed their sessions.

The 25-year-old Mercedes driver feels they could face stiff competition from rivals in qualifying but is certain they could make up for it in the race. In the races so far, the Mercedes W14 has shown that it has a better race pace than the qualifying pace. Hoping for better results than the ones in Spain and Monaco, the Briton is looking forward to a competitive race weekend.

---

George Russell reveals a hilarious moment with Daniel Ricciardo during FP2

George Russell termed Daniel Ricciardo a ‘rogue’ Australian fan in the pit lane making gestures towards him. The Briton rued the strange practice session day where FP1 was red-flagged due to CCTV issues on the track, resulting in an extended 90-minute FP2.

Reflecting upon his initial run at the Canadian circuit, Russell said:

“It’s obviously been a strange day, with what happened in FP1 and the extension FP2. It was a reasonably productive session, I dont think we can really read too much into the timings. Obviously we did our low fuel qualifying prep towards end of the session when the track was quicker. It’s bumpy, its bumpy out there."

"There was a rogue Australian fan when I was in the pit lane as well. I don't know who it was who stuck his finger up at me or something when I was waiting to go out. It was around the Red Bull area so I need to check the video and see if an investigation should go into this," George Russell added.

Finishing second fastest in the 90-minute session, George Russell was 0.027 seconds adrift of his teammate, Lewis Hamilton. The two Mercedes drivers were able to carry out their qualifying simulation runs towards the end of the session.

However, the timings could be misleading as most of their rivals were on different programs during the session and are expected to improve by FP3. The fast Canadian circuit will be a litmus test to the upgrades on the Mercedes but the bumpy track surface will be harsh on the tire wear and tear during the race.