Ferrari “clearly the team to beat” as George Russell searches for Mercedes Monaco F1 step

George Russell says that Ferrari is “the team to beat” in Monaco and concedes that his Mercedes Formula 1 team has to make a step for Saturday.

The two Ferraris topped both FP1 and FP2 on Friday, while Mercedes took P4 and P5 in both sessions, with Kimi Antonelli ahead in the first and Russell in the second.

The two drivers had tried different setups in FP1 before converging, although Russell was happier than Antonelli by the end of the day.

“We expected Ferrari to be the guys to beat,” said Russell. “A lot of people thought that was just chat, but, clearly, they are the team to beat. Red Bull has also been a bit of a surprise for us.

"We knew out of the races so far, this was going to be our most challenging. It's probably been slightly more challenging than we would have hoped, but we did make some good improvements from FP1 into FP2.

“We need to make the same step overnight, and I don't think we nailed it today, so there is room to improve, but definitely, Ferrari is the team.”

Russell suggested that Ferrari’s mechanical DNA has always favoured street venues, and hence the car’s form was no surprise.

“I've got to be honest, the trends that we see with Ferrari every year here and on street tracks, and what we've seen today, have been there for probably 10 years,” he said.

“Every car has an inherent DNA, and their inherent DNA, especially on the mechanical side of the car, clearly works on these street tracks.

"We are doing everything we can to try and make those improvements. I do think we can close the gap, if we can over-commit, I'm not sure.”

Expanding on his own Friday, Russell confirmed that the Mercedes drivers had converged on set-up for the second session.

“We went two different directions for FP1, just to get an understanding,” he said. “Clearly, there was one way that was better, and straight away FP2, I felt much more comfortable, but we are off the pace compared to Ferrari.”

Meanwhile, World Championship leader Antonelli conceded that he wasn’t happy with progress.

“It was not the most straightforward Friday of the season,” said the Italian. “I struggled with the car, particularly in the middle sector, and that was limiting our pace.

“We tried a lot of different set-up options and have gathered a lot of good data. That will help us evaluate what work to do overnight, and what changes to make for FP3 and qualifying.”
 
He added: “Ferrari look to be in a very strong position. We know they are typically good in Monaco, and they certainly seem to be favourites for tomorrow. We know there is more time for us to find though given we didn't get the car in its perfect sweet spot yet, so hopefully we can take a step forward and be in the mix tomorrow.”