George Russell reflects “really up and down”, while Mercedes is looking for Soft Treat Tempo in Australia

“It is clearly a bit of speed in the car and it's just about getting the best out of the tire, so we have to understand why this is so.”

Russell had ended the opening session in seventh on Friday, while he had narrowly lost contact with the wall from the grass in curve 4, a moment when he “push the borders a little too much”.

Read more: Which tires do the teams and drivers have for the Australian Grand Prix 2025?

Russell rated Mercedes' chances of being able to surpass the podium on Sunday on Sunday: “Let's see what we can achieve overnight. If the session had stopped after the hard tire and stopped the session after the middle tire in FP1, I would definitely have said we are there or so.

“But obviously they do not qualify for the hard or medium -sized tire, they qualify for the soft tire and we don't seem to make ourselves so competitive. I am sure we will find some improvements this evening. “