Antonelli concerned after Barcelona FP2: 'George and McLaren look very quick'

The championship leader handed over his W17 to Frederik Vesti during the morning session before returning to action for FP2 in the afternoon. However, Antonelli could manage only the fifth-fastest time, finishing half a second adrift of the leading trio, including teammate Russell. The Italian also reported issues in the closing stages of the session, complaining over team radio about a long brake pedal feel.

Speaking at the end of the day, the Italian admitted that extracting performance over a single lap had proven particularly challenging. Antonelli pointed to the narrow operating window of the tyres and overheating issues as key factors behind his struggles, while also acknowledging that Mercedes still has work to do overnight to improve the balance of the car ahead of qualifying. Despite the struggles, the championship leader drew encouragement from his long-run pace and expressed confidence that the team can make progress through setup changes before Saturday.

Antonelli also highlighted the pace shown by his teammate and both McLaren drivers, admitting they currently appear to be the benchmarks heading into the remainder of the weekend: "George looks very quick, McLaren looks very quick as well. So it's not going to be easy, but we'll try to understand everything from tonight's work and make sure we're ready for tomorrow."

Ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, Russell was eager to stress that the sizeable gap separating him from teammate and championship leader Antonelli does not accurately reflect the level of performance he has shown so far this season. The Mercedes driver argued that a series of setbacks beyond his control have played a major role in shaping the current standings, leaving him far further behind than he believes he would be under more normal circumstances.

Russell pointed out that many of the points he has lost were the result of incidents and misfortune rather than mistakes on his part. As a result, he remains convinced that his performances have been considerably stronger than the championship table suggests and does not view the deficit as a fair representation of his form across the opening six rounds.

The Briton also revealed that he continues to work closely with a performance psychologist, a partnership that has been in place for six years. Russell explained that those regular conversations help him process emotions, maintain perspective and evaluate whether his feelings about a situation genuinely reflect the level of performance he is delivering on track.