George Russell has unsurprisingly highlighted tyre management as the critical factor that could determine the outcome of this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, as Mercedes aims to challenge the dominant McLaren team.
With Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri setting the pace in Free Practice 2, Russell, who finished seventh in the session, believes that extracting maximum performance from Pirelli’s rubber will be pivotal on Jeddah’s high-speed street circuit.
Russell, who was sixth in Free Practice 1 before slipping to seventh in the cooler, race-representative FP2, noted that tyre performance has consistently been a deciding element in recent races.
Reflecting on the close battle in Bahrain, where tyre degradation kept the field competitive despite McLaren’s expected dominance, he suggested a similar scenario could unfold in Jeddah.
“It always comes down to the same, which is getting the most out of the tyres,” Russell said.
“I think we tried some things, me and Kimi [Antonelli] did some different things which was valuable to try and learn, and I think we got a bit of a direction from that.
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“It'll be a close battle again for the next best team and hopefully we can try and sneak up there, but McLaren are very good again.”
Antonelli’s Learning Curve on Jeddah’s Demanding Layout
Mercedes’ rookie Kimi Antonelli, meanwhile, endured a challenging but productive Friday, finishing 13th in FP1 and 11th in FP2.
The young Italian had several off-track moments, including a brush with the wall at the final corner, but escaped without damage.
©Mercedes
Despite the steep learning curve on Jeddah’s unforgiving circuit, Antonelli found positives in his performance, particularly in FP2.
“Quite a tricky day, obviously it's about trying to find every detail because it’s not an easy track and it’s really important to place the car very well, especially in sector one, but overall I think was quite positive,” he said.
“I think FP2 was looking pretty good, I was feeling good, especially on the medium and on the soft I did a mistake on lap one and obviously the tyre didn’t hold on as they could have. But overall I think a positive day and looking forward to tomorrow.”
With a tighter midfield than ever and McLaren setting the early benchmark, Mercedes will look to fine-tune their setup and tyre strategy overnight – hoping to put themselves in contention for a strong result under the lights in Jeddah.
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