Mercedes bets on dry race: 'That was a new set of tyres'

For Mercedes, the second free practice ended positively with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton topping the timesheet. Yet Andrew Shovlin sees that there is still work to be done for the German team.

Friday got off to another difficult start for Mercedes, who failed to finish in the top ten with Russell and Hamilton, and only managed ten laps in the first free practice session. It should be added that many teams chose to stay inside, but Mercedes itself also says it had start-up problems.

''Our morning was not great, as we missed the best moment to do runs. It also showed that we were struggling with rear grip and tyre temperatures. For the second free practice session, we made adjustments to the setup and that made the car look much better in the afternoon,'' Shovlin noted in the press release.

Mercedes' technical director saw Russell and Hamilton finish at P1 and P2 respectively in the second free practice. ''The timesheet is not a fair reflection of our pace, as our times were set on new tyres (as opposedto Red Bull's old tyres). However, we seem to be in a good position compared to Red Bull and Ferrari.''

While Red Bull tried to save intermediates to have them left over for the possible rain race on Sunday, Mercedes is gambling on Sunday staying dry. ' 'We expect a dry qualifying and most probably a dry race as well,'' Mercedes' top man concluded.