Formula 1 had a busy Friday at Suzuka, and George Russell didn’t hide his surprise at McLaren’s performance. Even competitive, the British driver acknowledged that the team needs to react to fight for pole position at the Japanese GP.
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Mercedes started the day well with Russell leading FP1, but saw Oscar Piastri take the top spot in FP2. The result triggered an alert within the German team for the rest of the weekend.
Russell highlighted that the Japanese circuit remains one of the most challenging on the calendar. “It’s great to be back at Suzuka. It’s an incredible track and always a great challenge behind the wheel,” he said.
The driver also commented on the behavior of the new generation cars on the track. According to him, some specific points still require adjustments, mainly on fast laps.
“There are some areas where we’re a bit slower on corner entry, but the speeds are very high, especially on the back straight,” he explained.
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Despite the good start, Russell admitted that McLaren’s performance caught his attention. “It was a bit surprising to see their pace, but there’s no reason to believe it’s not real,” he said.
The British driver stressed that the team needs to evolve quickly to not lose ground. “We have work to do overnight to find more performance if we want to challenge them tomorrow,” he added.
Russell also showed confidence in Mercedes’ ability to react before qualifying. “We have some areas where we can improve, and I hope we can make that step overnight,” he said.
With small differences between the teams and data still impacted by traffic on track, the expectation is for a tight battle on Saturday. For Russell, the moment now is to adjust the car and confirm where Mercedes really stands in the fight for pole position.
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