Mercedes’ George Russell has urged caution after he topped FP2 in a “positive” Friday Practice for 2025 Canadian Grand Prix.
Russell finished fourth in FP1 but managed to top FP2 as just one of three drivers who set their fastest laps on the medium tyre in that session.
The 27-year-old Brit however has urged caution despite the “nice” feeling of having topped FP2 on a “positive day” where “the cooler temperatures and smoother tarmac” suited the Silver Arrows, as he felt that his lap time might of been deceiving with McLaren expected to challenge come Qualifying.
“I managed to hook up a strong lap in FP2 and probably optimised the car we had. That may have flattered us slightly, but we can hopefully be in the mix with the usual suspects over the rest of the weekend.”
Russell also noted the minimal difference between the soft and medium tyres which could open up a variety of tyre strategies come Qualifying.
“It will be interesting to see what the tyre strategy is in Qualifying. With the C6 compound, the gap between the Soft and the Medium over a single lap is not as pronounced as it is when at the harder end of the compound range.
“Many teams, including ourselves, opted to only use a single set of Medium tyres today so have the option of deploying that tomorrow.”
Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director, Andrew Shovlin echoed Russell’s thoughts on how close Qualifying could be with expectation that McLaren and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will challenge despite their FP2 struggles.
“Whilst today has been good by recent standards, it’s clear that quite a few cars could be in the fight at the front in qualifying.”
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