Russell concerned as Ferrari dominate Hungarian GP FP2: 'They looked very strong'

Russell's teammate Kimi Antonelli failed to get a proper flying lap in to compete with the Ferraris, having been interrupted by Franco Colapinto's FP2 crash before sliding at the Turn 6 and 7 chicane under gusty conditions. It is not entirely certain the Italian would have challenged Hamilton's time, though, with the next non-Ferrari driver, Lando Norris, finishing half a second down.

Speaking to Sky F1 after his P5 finish in FP2, Russell said Friday's action, which also saw Leclerc on top in the earlier session - nearly a second ahead of the Briton - has backed up Mercedes' fears over Ferrari's pace. With energy deployment less of a concern at the Hungaroring, and a lot of tight, twisty corners suiting the Scuderia's SF-26, Ferrari do indeed look set to take the fight to Constructors' leaders this weekend.

Reflecting on Friday's running, Russell said:"It was quite a strange day out there, I think, for everybody. Budapest is an amazing track to drive, with a resurfaced half of the track. Super bumpy, a lot of it's breaking up around the last couple of corners, which is making it quite strange to drive on.

It has also been revealed that the Briton has also been suffering with issues to his Mercedes power unit of late, now seemingly fully resolved following his Lap 1 crash at the Belgian GP last weekend.

Asked nonetheless whether there was any evidence to suggest there was still a problem, Russell responded: "I've got to be honest, I actually didn't really look at it, because I just trusted in my team that everything has been resolved.

Circling back to Mercedes' lack of pace to the Scuderia so far, Russell then weighed up whether the Silver Arrows will be able to fight for Pole on Saturday. He said: "I think for both Kimi and I, the car was far from great, to be honest, and we think there is room to improve. It's really windy today, and I think the wind is going to be shifting, so that could be changing a lot."