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Mercedes appeared to be back on form at the Miami GP as George Russell topped the timesheets in FP2, after a competitive FP1 session. The Silver Arrows looked competitive in both the short and the long runs, leading to suggestions that the team was finally able to get on top of its issues.
This upturn in form is something that has not surprised many of the team's competitors, who revealed they were expecting the German team to sort things out sooner rather than later. Speaking to Sky Sports, Red Bull's Christian Horner confessed that the uptick in Mercedes' form was not a surprise to him, saying:
“I’ve been saying since pre-season that it’s only a matter of time before they sort themselves out and that’s starting to happen. The characteristic of this circuit helps as well but you can see they’re starting to get on top of their issues. They’re looking competitive.”
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When McLaren's Lando Norris was asked if he was surprised by the speed of the Silver Arrows, he said:
“Not at all. They were what, P4/P5 in Bahrain? They’ve been strong all year. Just because they have some bouncing, everyone expects them to be terrible. They’re extremely strong in slow-speed corners. Mercedes have probably been one of the best cars in slow-speed corners all season, just no one ever looks at the GPS very well and picks it up. So not a surprise in any way. It just makes us want to work even harder and try to get past them again.”
Charles Leclerc slightly surprised by Mercedes' speed
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was somewhat surprised by the sudden surge in pace from the German team as he finished FP2 behind George Russell. The Monegasque said:
“The surprise is Mercedes for now; they seem to be very strong and also on the high-fuel pace they were strong, so they might be the surprise this weekend, and it would be nice if they could join the battle with Red Bull and ourselves. It seems the field is much closer than what we have seen since the beginning of the season. We definitely need to do a step up for qualy. We will try to put everything together, also doing a step forward in terms of driving.”
The sudden surge in speed does coincide with track characteristics that don't cause too much porpoising. It does remain to be seen if the German team can maintain its speed throughout the weekend.
