George Russell believes the track and conditions in Miami are responsible for Mercedes’ competitive start to the weekend.
He set the second-quickest time in the opening practice session, lapping seven-hundredths of a second off Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. Russell went one better in the second session, heading the times.
Mercedes has brought a package of upgrades to its car this weekend. While the team believe that has made some improvements, Russell suspects the combination of slow corners and high temperatures at the Miami circuit also suits them.
“We always knew ahead of this weekend that the conditions should suit us better,” he said. “We’ve been struggling a lot with tyre warm-up, even in Bahrain when the track was really rough. But this is the first real hot race of the season.
“So for sure, that’s played a big factor. The car is working well but it’s only Friday, I’m not getting too carried away.”
However Russell admitted the ‘porpoising’ problem which has affected the team all season does appear to have improved this weekend.
Gallery: Miami Grand Prix practice in pictures“We know that it will always be there, but maybe it’s working at a lower range compared to where we were previously,” he said.
“For sure in that high-fuel run I was feeling it and it didn’t seem to be any better. But if we can manage to do that with the car lower to the ground then obviously we will see the rewards.
“But as I said, you generally have races that sort of go in your favour, some races that go against you. I think Imola obviously wasn’t a strong circuit for us, but so far from what we see, the car is working well around Miami.”
Mercedes’ rivals Red Bull and Ferrari lost significant amounts of track time due to a combination of technical problems and crashes. Russell was encouraged by how much progress his team was able to make. “It’s definitely been a really productive day for us,” he said, “probably the most productive Friday we’ve…