Russell predicts 'Melbourne excitement' after Day 3 of Barcelona tests

19:08, 28 Jan

Updated: 19:43, 28 Jan

byKada Sarkozi

George Russell suggests lap times are hardly representative after Day 3 of the Barcelona pre-season test was concluded.

"The track temperature was in the low single-digits this morning, one of the coldest circuits I've ever driven on, so there's little-to-nothing you can read into the times. The excitement lies ahead once we head to Melbourne."

- George Russell

Mercedes reportedly set the pace on Day 3 of pre-season testing in Barcelona. Kimi Antonelli clocked an unofficial time of 1:17.382. His teammate finished not far behind with an unofficial 1:17.580.

Russell drove 92 laps today, while Antonelli finished with 91. As a result, the German team logged more than 850 kilometres on track today.

The Briton was satisfied with his day in Spain. He began: "Everything went relatively smoothly from a reliability perspective today so that is good for our overall programme.

"This test is all about getting mileage on the car and making sure everything functions as it should. That was the case today as Kimi and myself were able to put a large number of laps in once again.

"The track temperature was in the low single-digits this morning, one of the coldest circuits I've ever driven on, so there's little-to-nothing you can read into the times. The excitement lies ahead once we head to Melbourne and get a sense of where we stack up against our competitors."

Will Mercedes be in action already on Thursday? Russell left the fans guessing. "For now, we are putting in the hard work and enjoying the process of getting ready for the season ahead. We've still got one more day of running we can accomplish, which may be tomorrow but will depend on the weather.

"We've got more work we want to do, and we are in a good place to run on Thursday, but we will only do so if we are confident it will be dry," the Briton concluded.

Kimi Antonelli driving the W17 - Photo: Mercedes AMG F1 Team

Antonelli also positive about Wednesday in Barcelona

Today, Antonelli drove during the afternoon session. The Italian explained: "It was a better day on my side than Monday, where the wet track in the morning limited my running. We were able to run a full race distance this afternoon, building our mileage and getting lots of data for the team to work with.

"This car is completely new and a big difference to last year's so I'm getting more used to it with every lap we complete. It's constant learning for me as a driver and the team too so accumulating as much mileage as we can is very useful.We have completed our programme on both days so far.

"That is the only real goal of this shakedown and hopefully our third and final day of running goes smoothly.

He concluded: "That may be tomorrow if the weather looks to be dry; whatever the conditions we face either tomorrow or Friday though, we are focused on adding to our mileage and putting ourselves in the best possible position before we head to Bahrain."

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