Russell credits Mercedes transformation after “worst” Friday practice

George Russell hailed a turnaround from Mercedes as it recovered from a slow start to the weekend to lock out the second row of the grid for the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton starts third with team-mate Russell alongside him in fourth, despite the pair explaining the struggles they endured during Friday’s practice runs, the second of which ended with Russell crashing into the wall.

Only Lando Norris and Max Verstappen qualified ahead of the Mercedes duo, and Russell was delighted with the reversal of fortunes, having bemoaned the car’s performance heading into Saturday night’s session.

“Incredible turnaround from yesterday,” Russell said. “It was, without doubt, our worst Friday in probably three years. [FP3] I was second, comfortably ahead of everyone bar Lando, and the car was night and day different. So credit to the team for the work they did.”

Russell praised the efforts of the Mercedes squad to learn where the set-up had gone wrong and make the necessary alterations to give himself and Hamilton a car capable of challenging towards the front of the grid.

“Yeah, immense,” he replied, when asked about the role played by the team working with the simulator.

“It's not only the people on the sim, but it is people going through the data all through the night. The engineers are even here working through the night literally as well. So yeah, great turnaround.

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“It was just we were totally in the wrong window with the set-up. We were trying some things [on Friday], maybe not the right place to do it, and clearly, we turned it around.”

Having hit the barriers on Friday evening, Russell had another spin during FP3 – but explained this off as finding the limits on the streets on Singapore.

“I had good confidence, so I was just seeing if there was anything more in the tank - there wasn't,” he said. “Before the session, I was hoping for a bit more, but after Q1 and Q2 very happy to salvage a P4.”

Mercedes also benefitted from a poor qualifying session from Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc complaining of a lack of heat in his tyres as he starts ninth, a place ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz who crashed in Q3.

It is the pace of McLaren that Russell remains wary of with Oscar Piastri fifth and Norris on pole: “He [Piastri] is going to be the main threat from behind. I hope that Lewis and I can take the fight to Max.

“But I think realistically, if Lando is leading after lap one, he'll win the race comfortably.”