Both Mercedes didn't manage to make it into Q3 for the first time in 10 years. This included Briton George Russell who finished a Q2 that was heavily affected by rain and a red flag meant he wasn't able to continue in the final session.
Just like his teammate Russell is well aware that the issues they face are one of a team as a whole, "we struggled a bit to get temperature into the tyres and we always seemed to make a bigger jump on the second lap as we saw in Australia compared to the Alpine and McLaren's they were the first lap." The former Williams driver thinks he would have been safe for Q3 given he was able to complete a second lap.
No optimism for the sprint race
Russell doesn't believe that "there are enough laps with degradation which is our advantage over the other teams," which could see a tricky weekend continue before we even see the green flag on Sunday afternoon. Although as always "there is a chance to recover tomorrow" admits the Brit.