Mercedes confident Russell has more pace to unlock despite difficult Friday at Spa

Mercedes believes George Russell's lowly position in Friday practice at the Belgian Grand Prix does not reflect his true pace, with Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin revealing the team has already identified several areas where the Briton can find significant lap time.

Russell endured a frustrating opening day at Spa-Francorchamps, finishing eighth in both practice sessions while team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli topped the timesheets in FP2. Although the final classification painted a stark contrast between the two Mercedes drivers, Shovlin insisted the gap was not representative of Russell's potential.

Mercedes' difficulties began in the opening practice session when the team misjudged the available grip levels, leaving both drivers with a challenging car balance.

"There was less grip than we were expecting in FP1 and that meant the car was under-winged during that first hour," Shovlin explained. "The drivers were fighting a tricky balance and thus didn't have the confidence in the car to extract the lap time."

Despite the handling issues, Shovlin praised both Russell and Antonelli for helping the team understand the car's shortcomings and providing valuable feedback.

"Both George and Kimi did well to work with a car that was proving a handful and give us a good direction for FP2."

Mercedes reacted by making several setup changes before the afternoon session, significantly improving the behaviour of the W17. Those adjustments helped Antonelli produce the fastest lap of the day, while Russell's result failed to reflect the progress the team believes was made.

"The changes we made between the sessions did their job and the car was in a much happier place come FP2," Shovlin said.

"Kimi was able to hook his Soft tyre lap up to top the times and whilst George ended the day in P8, that is not representative of what he is capable of. He only had one go at it and we can see several areas where he will extract more time as we head into the weekend."

Russell had also reported excessive sliding during FP2, preventing him from putting together a clean qualifying simulation, but Mercedes remains optimistic that further overnight refinements will allow him to move much closer to the front.

Shovlin expects another closely fought battle at Spa and believes Mercedes' long-run pace provides plenty of encouragement for the remainder of the weekend.

"The competitive picture looks tight as it has in recent races," he said. "Our goal is always to get both our cars at the front; our long runs looked solid and race pace is by far the most important thing around Spa."

"We will work hard overnight to find more pace and do our bit as a team to make sure we are in the best possible position for the rest of the weekend."