George Rဣussell feels McLaren is still the team to b♊eat in this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix despite his strong performance in practice on Friday.

Mercedes star Russell was able to lap within two tenths of McLaren rival168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: Lando Norris in FP1 on Friday morning, before finish🅷ing sixth in a truncated second session in the afternoon.

The Briton’s long runs also caught the attention of his McLaren duo Norris and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Oscar Piastri, who 168澳洲幸运༒5官方开奖结果历史:identified him as their main threat going into Saturday.

However, R🔯ussell doesn’t think Mercedes is now on the same level as its engine customer - and also warned that many other teams could join the fight in qualifying on Saturday.

“The McLarens once more look very strong and when they put a lap toget🎀her they are a step ahead,” he told F1.com.

“A few other guy🐼s [like Isack] Hadjar have been doing a great job. He has been really fast as well, which was quite a surprise.

“We don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. Fernando [Alonso] before he wen🎐t off [in FP2] was on a really fast lap as well꧅.

“It's a littཧle bit unusual to see so many different teams in the mix, but I'd like to think we will be in꧅ the fight for top four positions.”

However, Russell was still upbeat about Mercedes’❀ prospects for qualifying, having been impressed by the car’s handling in windy conditions at Suzuka.

“[It was 🅘a] pretty positive day to be honest,” he explained. “The car has been handling really nicely, I have been really pleased with that. We got to make sure it stays the same for tomorrow.

“The wind is playing a big factor. It's really windy out there and tomorrow the wind is going to shift 180 degrees, so that is going to really change how the car is feeling. But I'm confident we are in the mix for fighting for the✅ front two rows.”

Runnin⛦g in second practice was severely limited due to four separate red flag pe❀riods, preventing teams from completing any meaningful long runs.

Neverth⛦eless, Russell managed to do a short stint on the C1 hard tyre, which is likely to be the compound of choice in Sunday’s race.

“Often when you have the hard tyre on, it goes quite a long time,” he explained. “I got four laps on that tyre. On ꧒Sunday you would hope to be doing up to 30 odd laps on that tyre.

“It's in the last 10 laps in the race when you really know if the tyre is able to hold on or not. That is going to be the news to everyone oꦿn Sunday. “A bit♐ of rain is maybe on the way.

“As I said we are always there o🐟r thereabout on the timesheet, which is the most important thing.”

Russell's teammate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished ninth on Friday morning, but failed to set a representatitive lap in FP2 due to constant stoppages.