George Russell names surprise Mercedes Austria threat: 'They were flying'

George Russell has named McLaren as Mercedes' biggest threat at the Austrian Grand Prix after declaring they were "flying" during FP2.

Russell's team-mate Kimi Antonelli topped both Friday sessions at the Red Bull Ring, with Russell second and sixth, respectively.

During FP2, McLaren's Lando Norris initially set the pace on the medium tyres on the first runs, before Oscar Piastri got closest of all to Antonelli's pace-setting time on the soft tyres, finishing 0.237s down on the Italian.

The Red Bull Ring is traditionally a strong circuit for McLaren, and especially Norris, who is the defending race winner, as Russell put Mercedes on alert over the potential threat the Woking team could pose heading into qualifying and the race.

"FP1 was a very strong session for us both, we looked really good, and then straight out the blocks in FP2, McLaren were flying," Russell explained.

"To be honest, and obviously it was a disrupted session on my side, their race pace and their single lap pace look pretty decent.

"[In FP1], I think it was more than everyone else had a pretty troubled session, like every time I saw the TV screens, it was drivers in the garage with problems.

"Lando only got out at the end, Lewis had some problems, and Max had some problems, so I think that probably flattered our pace a bit in FP1.

"But things were feeling good. It was a real surprise to see that first lap of the McLaren in FP2, just right at the top, and their race pace, especially on Lando's side, looked a bit better than ours."