Mercedes fears over Ferrari pace realised - Russell
Mercedes driver George Russell acknowledged after practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix that the team's pre-event worries about Ferrari's competitiveness had been borne out. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) were among the fastest drivers in the session, underlining the tight battle at the front of the grid. The result sets up a competitive weekend at the Hungaroring, with Russell's comments highlighting Mercedes' struggles to match Ferrari's one-lap pace. Practice pace is not always indicative of race performance, but the tone from Russell suggests genuine concern inside the Mercedes camp heading into qualifying and the race.
Read the full story at skysports.comIn F1 terms, the Hungaroring is a low-degradation, high-downforce track where qualifying pace and race pace are tightly correlated, so a practice deficit to Ferrari is a meaningful signal. Russell's public admission is unusually candid for a driver and may reflect a real performance gap rather than mind games, which could affect strategy, tyre management expectations, and Mercedes' weekend approach.
Context added by Socc360, not by skysports.com.
Data source: skysports.com (via Socc360). Last updated .
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