Mercedes give themselves a pat on the back: 'Felt confident throughout'

With the heavy rain and hail during Friday's first practice session, drivers still managed around 40 minutes of testing time. After nine laps, Russell finished P10. In the second session, the wet weather continued, however the Mercedes driver was able to set an good time, securing him P2 following his 24 laps. Nonetheless, the British driver didn't let the weather phase him as the team continued to test the car in preparation for Saturday's qualifying, and Sunday's race. "It was good fun out there today," Russell said. "It was difficult to take many learnings into the rest of the weekend as each lap the conditions were changing."

"The car was feeling good overall, but we will only learn about our position relative to others tomorrow. I had faith in the car today though and felt confident throughout," Russell concluded. Shovlin also agreed with the driver, suggesting the weather made things rather complicated for the team: "The car seems to be working reasonably well, but it's impossible to draw conclusions on pace from a day like today." He shared, "considering the conditions today, it was a decent start to the weekend."

Russell looks ahead to Saturday

The Mercedes driver recently defended the team after they faced levels of criticism over their performance this season. Mercedes currently sit fourth in the Constructors, with Russell and teammate Lewis Hamilton sitting seventh and eigth in the Driver's championship. Nevertheless, Russell and Shovlin both look ahead to Saturday. They will have another free practice session followed by qualifying for Sunday's race.

Whilst usually the team focuses on their qualifying performance during FP3, Russell believes the team will need to adapt their plans for Saturday due to the issues the weather caused to Friday's practice sessions: "Tomorrow, we are going to have to evaluate our race pace. We are going to have to be very clear on the changes we want to make ahead of Qualifying. In all honesty, there won't be a lot that any driver or team learnt today. The weather could be similar tomorrow though so it's going to be interesting." Shovlin also added: "There's a chance of rain in both Qualifying and the race. We were therefore focused on covering as many conditions as possible and making sure we had the tyres in a decent temperature window along with understanding the car balance."