Verstappen impresses Mercedes driver: 'He is the quickest'

During the first two free practice sessions in Saudi Arabia, George Russell made a strong impression. In FP1, the Brit had the fastest time for a long time, and in FP2 he finished second. Certainly, the qualifying runs looked good. Russell himself finds it difficult to determine where he stands in relation to the rest of the field.

The driver looks back on the first day of racing in Jeddah. "Yes, it was fun to be back in Jeddah, such a high-speed circuit, that's really enjoyable. A little bit of a scrappy session. I don't think we probably had the car in the perfect window. I think the lap times were good, and the low fuel, high fuel pace, not too sure where we're at, really."

Russell on competitors such as Verstappen and Perez

Asked where Russell thinks he stands at the Grand Prix, the Briton responded to F1TV: "It's a little bit too early to say. I actually don't know really because I've not seen the lap times. For sure, Max is the quickest, and Checo is not too far behind. But it's difficult to follow at the moment. I think the cars are becoming increasingly harder to follow as the years progress."

The midfield, like last week in Bahrain, seems to be tight again, Russell explained. "I think it's going to be tight again. As we saw in Bahrain, Ferrari and Aston Martin probably look like our biggest threats and rivals at the moment."