Why Mercedes believes it can challenge the McLaren's and Verstappen after 'really solid day'

00:55, 14 Jun

Updated: 00:58, 14 Jun

byTobia Elia

Mercedes delivered an exceptionally strong performance in the second free practice session. George Russell topped the timesheets, with Kimi Antonelli finishing in third. Mercedes communications chief Bradley Lord appeared very pleased with the results.

A somewhat unexpected result, but after a solid second free practice session, Mercedes has firmly entered the fight for pole position in today’s qualifying—and potentially for victory at the Canadian Grand Prix—judging by the excellent first and third places secured by George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in FP2.

Speaking to F1 TV right after FP2, Lord said: ''It's been a really solid day. We've got some new stuff on the car. We brought back some new stuff that we'd taken off the car a couple of races ago as well. All of that seems to be working. Kimi looks comfortable, which is really good''

''First visit here and, you know, the walls come up pretty quickly. And he's stayed clear of those and shown good performance''.

''George just at one with the car and really able to get a lap out of it on both tyres. So it's encouraging. Long run pace looked good as well. So fingers crossed we can build on that for tomorrow''.

Russell set his fastest time on the mediums. Lord finds that a good sign ahead of quali: ''George got one lap out of the medium, was able to put the fastest time in. So that's encouraging''.

''As always, when you've got this really soft C6 compound, it's not always clear whether the medium or the soft is the quickest tyre for a single lap as well. We saw that in Imola and that might be the case again tomorrow. So yeah, going to be interesting to compare and to see what strategies the different teams go with''.

Can Mercedes come out on top in Canada against the two McLarens and Verstappen?

Last year, Russell took pole position in Canada. Max Verstappen drove the exact same time, but because his British colleague set the time earlier in Q3, he was allowed to start the race from pole position.

There is even better news for Mercedes. Speaking to Viaplay about the long runs, Lord commented: "It seems like we are close to McLaren. And to Max and Lewis as well, so far."