George Russell issues Mercedes demand with surprise pecking order verdict

George Russell has called on Mercedes to rectify the tyre degradation concerns that plagued it throughout the opening day of practice in Malaysia.

It was an issue seen at many of the teams as F1 returned to the Sepang International Circuit, which is hosting the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend.

The abrasive track surface and hot track temperature made it a challenging day of practice for all outfits.

Mercedes ended FP2 as the fourth-fastest team, with Russell and Kimi Antonelli finishing seventh and eighth, respectively.

With similar conditions expected throughout the weekend, Russell insisted it is an issue the team must get on top of.

"Firstly, it was great to be driving the circuit for the first time, I've never driven it before," Russell said.

"With these conditions, there's huge amounts of tyre degradation.

"So that's the thing that is trumping everything for everybody right now, and we just need to try and get on top of that."

Russell denies upgrade theory over F1 form

Mercedes has been on everyone's lips this weekend in Malaysia due to the substantial upgrade package it has brought to the event.

As the team continues to evaluate the performance of the new parts, Russell denied that its low position on the timesheet was a direct result of the upgrades.

"When you bring an upgrade to any circuit, it's difficult to know what your pure performance is and what it isn't," he said.

"If we had our new car last week we would have said things were absolutely incredible.

"If we had our old version today, I don't think things would have been much different either.

"We just don't have the car set up in the right window, that has nothing to do with the upgrades.

"We have to just do a bit of work overnight to try and improve the tyre situation.

"At the moment [Max] Verstappen is looking the quickest in a single lap and McLaren are looking quickest in the long run."