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George Russell believes Mercedes can challenge the Ferraris during the Spanish GP. The Mercedes driver put together another impressive performance as he out-qualified not only his teammate Lewis Hamilton, but also the Red Bull of Sergio Perez. He will start tomorrow's race from P4.
The Briton felt that the qualifying session could have gone better for the team and that looking at the long runs from Firday, Mercedes might have a chance to challenge the Ferraris in the race.
He said:
“It wasn’t actually our most perfect qualifying session. We didn’t have the tyres in the right window and I felt like there was a lot more lap time on the table yet we still came home with P4 and our best qualifying of the season.”
He continued:
“Looking at the pace from Friday, we have a better race car than we have a qualifying car so we have a chance against Ferrari but Red Bull, especially Max, seem a bit faster than the rest but all to play for. I don't feel quite as fatigued after that session compared to what I am used to.”
Catch Russell's performance at Sunday's race in Barcelona.
George Russell's boss shares his sentiments about Mercedes' pace
Toto Wolff agreed with what George Russell said about the team's prospects for the race. According to the Austrian team principal, Mercedes has a better race car as compared to a qualifying car and the team could pose a challenge to Ferrari as Red Bull might be out of reach for it. He said:
“I think we have taken a solid step into Barcelona. You try to keep your expectations at a realistic point and I think where we slotted in today is somehow the best we could have expected.”
He went on to say:
“My belief is we have a race car more than a qualifying car, but we’re going to see tomorrow how it went for the others. I think with Red Bull, they always have the tendency of being much stronger in the race than the Ferraris.”
Mercedes had the second-best race pace of all the teams on Friday. Its race pace exceeded that of Ferrari's on Friday. The Italian squad has been suffered from tire degradation in the past races as well. However, due to higher temperatures in Barcelona, this has gotten even worse. It will be interesting to see if Mercedes can put together a challenge against Ferrari in the race.
