Russell: "They just have an inherently faster car than us"

While FP1 and FP2 saw Mercedes' George Russell consistently in the Top 10 with a P8 and P7 result, the Briton is far from satisfied with the feeling and performance from his Silver Arrow. Speaking to Sky Sports after Friday's final Practice session, Russell goes into more detail with the issues that the team are experiencing.

Silver Arrow struggles

"It's been a tricky day. We weren't as competitive as we would have liked to be. It's a tricky track to get the tyres in the right window. We've seen the fastest laps coming at the end of the run, whilst Ferrari and Red Bull are able to turn it on quicker," the Brit stated. 

It was thought that after the Spanish Grand Prix where Russell finished on the podium, and Lewis Hamilton set the fastest times of the race, that Mercedes had fixed the issues that have plagued them since the beginning of the year, but a harsh knockback to reality at Monaco showed that isn't the case.

"They just have an inherently faster car than us [Ferrari and Red Bull], and we are doing everything we can to catch up."

Russell finished FP2 1.3 seconds slower than the session-topping time of Leclerc, a far cry from the dominance that Mercedes showed through the Hybrid-Era.