The Mercedes team wraps up a decent Friday in Jeddah for the Saudi Arabian GP. George Russell finished P6 in FP1 and P7 in FP2, with teammate Kimi Antonelli going P13 in FP1 and P11 in FP2. The Mercedes drivers look to find more pace going forwards in the weekend before qualifying on Saturday and the Grand Prix on Sunday.
Antonelli feeling good after Friday’s practice sessions
Antonelli finished first among the 2025 rookies in FP2 in P11. The young Italian currently sits in P6 of the drivers’ championship after finishing three of four races so far in the top six.
When speaking to the print media after Friday’s sessions, Antonelli shared his love for the track and his takeaways from the two hours of practice.
“It was quite fun today, the track is really good fun. Yeah, quite a tricky day, obviously it’s about trying to find every little detail because obviously, it’s not an easy track, and it’s really important to place the car very well, especially in that sector one, but overall, I think it was quite positive.”
FP2 was projected to be the more representative of qualifying and race pace out of the two sessions because it took place during the cooler night weather conditions. Antonelli shared his experience with the medium and soft compound in FP2 when speaking to print media.
“I think FP2 was looking pretty good, I was feeling good especially in the medium and on the soft I did a mistake in lap one and then obviously in lap two the tyre didn’t hold on as they could have, but overall I think it was a positive day and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
When asked how he expects to do in qualifying on Saturday after completing FP2, the Italian driver emphasized how close the field has been this season, and how there are still some notable unknowns.
“I mean it looks pretty tight, of course with everyone, but obviously we don’t know the fuel load, power of the others, what we’ve got to do is just focus on ourselves and try to improve for tomorrow.”
Russell unsatisfied with FP2, continuing to learn about the car
Russell has finished in the top five of every race so far in the 2025 season, sitting P4 in the drivers’ championship heading into the Saudi Arabian GP. The reliability of the British driver has been his biggest asset in scoring maximum points.
Russell was not happy with the lack of data the Mercedes team got out of FP2 due to a lack of laps. This lack of data takes away from the information that they have of the car in qualifying and racing conditions, leaving them with a slight disadvantage. However, Russell is certain they can pick up the slack.
“It was a bit of a messy session to be honest, obviously we didn’t get many laps in at the end, definitely a bit worse off than we were in FP1, we were pretty good in FP1, but sure there’s nothing we can’t solve overnight and come back stronger tomorrow.”
When asked what aspects of the car he needs to work on at the Saudi Arabian GP, Russell shared how the Mercedes team have been trying different things between the two teammates so far.
“It always seems to sound the same, which is just getting the most out of the tyres. I think we tried some things, Kimi did some different things, which were valuable to try and learn, I think we got a bit of direction from that.”
With Yuki Tsunoda’s end-of-session crash that brought out the red flag, Russell was unable to gain much information about the Mercedes’ long-running pace for the Saudi Arabian GP. Russell believes it will be a close fight for the win on Sunday and hopes he can have another successful outing in Jeddah.
“I was intrigued to see the long run pace, but unfortunately with the red at the end, we didn’t manage to see that, but I think it’ll be a close battle again for the next best team and hopefully, we can try and sneak up there, but McLaren are very good again.”
