Russell slightly perplexed by "surprises on the timing screens"

On a "strange" opening day at the Hungaroring, Mercedes driver George Russell claimed that he was left slighty surprised by certain teams popping up at the sharp end of the timing screens.

It was a tough outing last time out for Mercedes at Spa-Francorchamps. So severe were the issues that the Brackley-based outfit elected to revert to the pre-Montreal-specification suspension configuration for the last round ahead of the summer break.

The aim is to find out whether the kinematic upgrades are to blame for their recent lack of performance.

The opening day at the Hungarian Grand Prix did not fully show what Mercedes will be able to target at in Mogyoród, but the drivers George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli sounded a positive note when assessing their first two practice sessions at the Hungaroring.

“It was a strange day today. Whilst we expected to see the McLarens looking strong, there were some surprises on the timing screens. Aston Martin seemed to have good pace on the single lap and several other cars looked competitive on the long run.

Pressed on to comment on Mercedes' decision to revert the W16 to the pre-Montreal-specification rear suspension, Russell sounded a positive note, claiming that he has gained more confidence through the modification.

"Our focus has been on ourselves though. We’ve re-introduced the previous specification of our rear suspension to find more stability in the car.

"We didn’t expect to have a major breakthrough moment but overall, the car felt better to drive and gave me more confidence. It has therefore been a positive Friday and we will now keep chipping away over the rest of the weekend to secure a solid result come Sunday.”