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Williams’ main driver was able to record the fastest time during the two free testing sessions on Friday, as part of his first time with Mercedes, replacing Lewis Hamilton, who is infected with the Corona virus.
Russell was three-tenths of a second ahead of his teammate Valtteri Bottas in the first session, as the Finn suffered damage to the floor of his car.
In the second period, Russell was in the lead again, but that was the result of eliminating Finn’s time, the fastest, after breaking the field boundaries at turn eight, which brought him to eleventh.
Russell downplayed that result at the end of the day, revealing that he had struggled the most in terms of simulating the race.
“I think the times are a bit misleading nowadays and they don’t reflect the actual pace,” Al-Britani said.
He added: “I thought the second free trials weren’t a big part for me. I suffered especially with a lot of fuel, and that will be the main factor on Sunday.”
He added: “I still have a lot of work to do to feel comfortable in the car, feel comfortable in terms of set-up and get some improvements, as I think tomorrow will be a different story.
Russell believed that Bottas was even faster than him, believing that the amount of time the Finn won by derailing in the eighth inning was negligible.
The British said: “Today I was the fastest, it does not mean that this will be my place tomorrow.”
He added: “Max Verstappen was very fast on the simulation level, Valtteri was the fastest in season two, but his time was canceled. He may have gained half a tenth of a second at most, so he’s still a tenth and half a second faster than me at the one-lap level. But we’ll see. ” We are getting better and better. “
Russell complained about his seat during the first session, after revealing on Thursday that he was wearing shoes that were smaller than normal so he could be in Hamilton’s cabin.
However, he is confident that all problems will be resolved in time before Sunday’s race.
“I’m really tired of being honest,” he said about it. “We have really talked about what we have to change. It is not an impulse of the moment.”
He continued: “We will change the seat a little and we will work hard with the young people to try to improve the situation on Sunday. But I am sure that everything will be fine.”
