George Russell has issued a stark warning regarding the challenges facing Mercedes at the Bahrain Grand Prix, citing significant threats from Max Verstappen’s Red Bull squad and the McLaren team. Despite introducing their most substantial aerodynamic upgrade package in four months during the Malaysian event, Russell admitted the car’s performance was compromised by severe tyre degradation caused by the harsh conditions at the Sepang International Circuit.
The F1 grid returned to Sepang for the first time since 2017, where sweltering temperatures and abrasive tarmac created difficult operating windows for the tyres. Mercedes’ updates to the W17, which include modifications to the floor and rear suspension following their Canadian GP changes at the end of May, were ultimately trumped by these track factors.
Friday’s proceedings saw a mixed bag for the title-leading Mercedes outfit. Russell secured second place in the opening practice session behind Verstappen. However, both Russell and championship leader Kimi Antonelli dropped to seventh and eighth respectively in the later session after struggling to execute effective flying laps on the soft tyres.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the timesheets, followed by Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and McLaren’s Lando Norris. Verstappen sat fourth, just two-tenths adrift, despite abstaining from soft-tyre runs entirely.
Russell, the winner of last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, acknowledged the historical significance of the circuit but emphasized the technical struggles. “Firstly, it was a really cool experience driving this circuit. It’s an iconic place,” Russell said. “But with these conditions, tyre deg is huge for everybody and the cars are operating in a very different window. As a team, we just haven’t got the car quite where we need it to be. We’re a bit off the pace.”
He added that while downforce levels felt improved in corners, the extreme overheating and degradation issues required immediate set-up adjustments overnight rather than reliance on the new parts alone. When asked if the team could challenge for pole after these fixes, Russell remained cautious. “Currently I think Verstappen looks very fast and then the race pace of McLaren looked very quick. But never say never,” he noted.
The nature of the high-speed Sepang layout had led many to predict McLaren would be Mercedes’ closest rivals. The MCL40 appeared competitive on longer stints, with Norris showing promise in the second session. Oscar Piastri finished sixth overall and observed that the top four teams were closely matched.
“I think it looks pretty close amongst the top four teams,” Piastri said. “Red Bull have looked very strong through the day. Mercedes as well have looked strong at points, and obviously Ferrari were pretty good then. So everyone has kind of had their turn of being reasonably competitive. I think we’re maybe a tiny step behind, but we made a lot of progress from FP1 so hopefully we can keep that trend going.”
Sky Sports will broadcast the Bahrain Grand Prix live on Sunday, October 3, with the race starting at 8am (build-up from 6:30am) on Sky Sports F1.
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