Russell confident Mercedes will turn it around: 'Tend to get better'

George Russell finished the second free practice session as the slowest driver in Hungary, but the alarm bells aren't ringing inside the Mercedes garage. The British driver is confident his F1 team will be able to turn it around in time for the meaningful sessions during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.

"We tend to get better as the weekend progresses," Russell explained to Sky Sports after the second free practice session. Last year, Russell secured his first Formula 1 career pole position at the Hungaroring despite not troubling the quickest times on Friday.

"We only used one set of tyres throughout, a set of used tyres as well. The lap times don't give a full representation. We learnt a few interesting things, so let's see what we can do tonight," Russell added before zooming into what Mercedes need to assess overnight.

"We're struggling with overall grip, the tyres not in the right window at high and low fuel. We need to look at why that was, whether we need to go faster or slower on the out lap for qualifying. For the race run, if we need to be pushing more or managing more. Wasn't our best day, but not the first time I've said that," Russell concluded.

Not for the first time, the Mercedes drivers seem to have a little disagreement in terms of where the car is at. Russell's teammate Lewis Hamilton expressed that his car was at "it's worse" following running in FP2.