George Russell stated that his target for the Mexico City Grand Prix is a podium finish.
Russell did not take part in the opening free practice of the weekend as Nyck de Vries was behind the wheel of his car. Later in the day, the Briton topped the standings of FP2 which was extended for the 2023 tire test. Russell got to use the 2022 tire compound.
Russell is delighted with Mercedes’ performance and believes that they have had one of the best starts to a race weekend this season.
“Today [Friday] was one of our better Fridays, if not the best of the year so far. The car is working well, and it felt good driving on this track,” he said.
“The pace was relatively strong, but we know the challenges at this circuit. For qualifying, the difficulty will be to get the tires in the right window for the single-lap run. And on Sunday, it will be difficult to manage temperatures for the engine and for the brakes.
“A podium finish should hopefully be possible for us this weekend, so that’s what we will be aiming for.”
Russell added: “Not having the normal FP2 running, where we get to assess the long-run performance of our rivals, doesn’t allow us to understand where our competitors are and that can become a big challenge if we will struggle with tire temperatures during the race.
“We take some very useful learnings about tire temperature management for next year and will be working hard overnight as it’s not going to be a straightforward weekend for sure, but positive learnings for us today.”
