Russell treats Monaco circuit with more respect: 'Almost did a wheelie'

Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell had a tough time with Mercedes' W13 in Monaco during practice. In any case, Russell hopes they will be the "best of the rest" behind Red Bull Racing and Ferrari.

The complete results of the second free practice session in Monaco show that Mercedes still has some work to do to become best of the rest. At the end of the hour Russell was in sixth place, still behind Lando Norris of McLaren. Russell did set a faster time than his teammate. He was no less than eight tenths faster than the seven-time world champion. It was therefore according to him a relatively good day, but with points of improvement.

In a press statement from his team Russell says: "Monaco is a challenging track. The cars are very stiffly tuned in the aerodynamic area, so it's not easy to drive at the limit on a circuit like this. You have to treat the track with a little more respect than you normally would. There are places on the track where we almost do a wheelie with both front wheels off the ground!"

Russell is already looking forward, although the team is clearly not going to find the connection with Red Bull and Ferrari this weekend. The Brit hopes to stay ahead of the other seven teams in particular, but thinks Ferrari is too strong: "They are blossoming again. We saw in Imola how good they were over the kerbs and that plays into their hands again here."