"I'd be very shocked"- George Russell on Mercedes' chances of securing pole at Dutch GP

George Russell has said that Mercedes look stronger this weekend at the Dutch GP but are unlikely to be in contention for pole position.

The Mercedes driver topped FP1 on Friday and had a strong run in FP2 as well but is not very optimistic about the team's chances of qualifying in the front row. He said that a repeat of Hungary looks difficult.

"I think Hungary was unique," said Russell. "I think our rivals didn't quite get it right on the day, and we did an absolutely stellar job. We obviously only just pipped them. I'd be very shocked if we can have a repeat on Hungary, but I think we're definitely closer than we've been in a long time. I think the race will come towards us, and I think our long run pace is looking strong."

While Russell said that the car has performed better than it did at Spa, he feels the team needs a strong qualifying session to have a good race on Sunday. He said:

"But you have got to be starting in the right position. If we're starting on row three, it is going to be difficult to battle for first or second. We will dive into tonight and try to gather as much data as possible, but we're in a relatively good spot."

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Lewis Hamilton and George Russell aren't yet entirely comfortable with the car - Mercedes

Andrew Shovlin from Mercedes shared the optimism from George Russell and feels that the car is performing better at the Dutch GP than at Belgium.

He said:

"The car has been a lot easier to balance here than in Spa, and we look to be in a better place in terms of pace; we're still missing a bit on single lap and long run, but the gaps are a lot better than last week. The sessions were a bit messy with a few red flags, but we managed to tick off our test items and have a decent idea where we are going with the car spec for tomorrow."

Shovlin, though, added that Russell and Lewis Hamilton aren't entirely comfortable with the car, and the team needs to make some changes overnight. He said:

"Neither driver has the balance where they want it yet, and both felt the car was a little easier to drive in the morning. In the afternoon, we were understeering in some places and lacking stability in others. Not major issues but ones we are going to need to put right overnight if we plan on giving Red Bull and Ferrari any trouble tomorrow."

Russell's pole position in Hungary is one of the high points of the season for Mercedes, so it will be interesting to see what the team can do this weekend.