Russell ‘realistic’ of Mercedes’ Las Vegas chances despite Antonelli pace

George Russell played down Mercedes’ chances of success at the Las Vegas Grand Prix despite team mate Kimi Antonelli setting the second fastest time in Free Practice 2.

Russell took victory for Mercedes 12 months ago on the Las Vegas streets, but ended FP2 in seventh place this time around, with his best effort 0.435s off Lando Norris’ session-topping 1m 33.602s.

While Antonelli was second and just 0.029s back from the McLaren driver, neither of the Mercedes duo were able to complete a full Qualifying simulation on soft tyres, with red flags denying the opportunity.

“It wasn’t bad, I think we’re in the mix, but I think we have to be realistic,” said Russell. “There were a lot of expectations on us coming into the weekend, but we’ve changed the car a lot since last year. It’s definitely made it a better car over the course of the season, but maybe hasn’t made it as competitive here as we were 12 months ago. But we’re still there or thereabouts, and it was close.

“Lando was quick, [Max] Verstappen and [Charles] Leclerc were quick in FP1, Kimi was quick, so it’s going to be close.”

En route to victory last year, Russell took pole position by being the last driver to cross the line, taking advantage of the extreme track evolution seen on the street track.

Noting the “incredible” level of evolution across the day, Antonelli hinted that a similar tactic may be required to secure a position at the front this time around.

“For sure, the evolution is big during the session, so probably in Qualifying, it is one of those sessions where you want to be last,” said Antonelli. “But also, it can be tricky with red flags, so it’s about finding a balance.

“We will see in Qualifying how big the evolution is. If we see that by Q3, it kind of plateaus, we maybe think it’s not worth going last, but if we still see the track is evolving a lot, that is maybe something we will take into account.”