George Russell gives worrying Mercedes prognosis for F1 Australian GP qualifying

George Russell was left baffled by his Mercedes’ performance after practice at the F1 Australian Grand Prix.

Russell was 10th on the timesheet on Friday, with new teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli 16th.

The McLarens, the Ferraris and the Racing Bulls locked out the top six in practice to offer a hint about what might come on Saturday.

Russell was perplexed by the tyre performance of his W16.

“It was a really up and down day,” he told Sky Sports.

“Every time we had the medium or hard tyre on, we were right in the top two of the timesheet. Every lap felt good.

“We were [almost] faster on the hard than the soft! When we put the soft on, we didn’t go much quicker.

“Clearly there is a bit of pace in the car. It’s just getting the most out of the tyres.

“We need to understand why that is.”

Read more: Long run data analysis establishes McLaren and Ferrari pecking order in Australia

George Russell turns to Mercedes engineers

Russell saved a potential crash at Turn 4, and reacted: “I was pushing the limits a little too much. It’s a great track here, and a fast one.”

The Mercedes driver admitted his hopes for qualifying rest upon his engineers on Friday night.

“Let’s see what we can achieve overnight,” he said.

“If the session stopped after the hard or medium tyre in FP1, I’d say ‘yes definitely, we are there or thereabouts’.

“But you don’t qualify on the hard or medium, you qualify on the soft, and we are not competitive there.

“We need to find some time.”

For Antonelli, his first practice day as a full-time F1 driver meant learning the ropes with the Pirelli tyres.

“It was quite a positive day,” he said.

“There is some work to do on a single lap, getting the tyres into the right window.

“Overall I felt pretty good. I did a little mistake at the end.

I am gaining confidence, lap by lap. My long run was positive.

“The C5 is a compound that I’ve never really used. I am learning it. The warm-up is tricky. But we have good data for tomorrow.”