Russell after strong FP2: 'Exceeded our expectations'

It was a surprise to many people when Mercedes was suddenly very fast during the second free practice session. Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time and his teammate George Russell was second. The latter, however, does not want to go too fast, he told Sky Sports and F1TV.

Russell remains calm after FP2 Bahrain GP

"I mean we can’t get carried away with ourselves" the Brit starts. "The qualifying pace was really strong. We still need to try and understand why it was so good. We made some changes from the tests and it exceeded our expectations, But ultimately the long run pace which is where it all happens, Max was still ahead of us. It was very close with Fernando, with Lando and the Ferraris. And Lewis and I were very similar as well."

The positive noises about Mercedes may be a bit premature. Max Verstappen already said after the second free practice that he was not worried because he assumed there would be teams that would have already opened up the engine a bit more. The Dutchman does think it will be close in qualifying.

For Russell, the focus is elsewhere for now: "100%, We need to sit down and understand where this increased performance is. Where it's come from. Whether it's a one-off. Whether we can maintain this." Qualifying will be run on Friday. Then it will become clear how the teams really stand.