Russell says Mercedes has “real chance” against Ferrari

George Russell has said that Mercedes have a real chance against Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix tomorrow.

Mercedes snatched their best qualifying result of the season, with Russell taking home fourth as Sir Lewis Hamilton ended Saturday in sixth place.

This comes after an update package allowed the team to remove their bouncing issues that have cursed their 2022 campaign so far.

Despite finishing behind polesitter Charles Leclerc by about six tenths, both Russell and Hamilton are confident that the team can fight Ferrari after showing strong race pace in practice.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Russell said:

“It wasn’t actually our most perfect qualifying session, we didn’t really have the tyres in the right window and there’s a lot more lap time on the table, yet we still came home with P4 with our best qualifying of the season.

“Looking at the pace on Friday, we had a better race car than we did a qualifying car so I think we’ve got a real chance against Ferrari.

“But Red Bull, especially Max [Verstappen], seem a little bit faster than the rest so all to play for.”

Only the result of the race after the checkered flag will show whether or not the team’s goals are achievable, as the team looks ahead to the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix.

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