The second day at first pre-season testing in Barcelona flew and as the drivers start gathering thoughts and conclusions about their first impressions on the 2022 cars, George Russell spoke to the media on what was his second day of official activity in the Mercedes W13.

“It was nice to jump back in the car. Is really intriguing, these tests obviously, new car, new tyres, different dynamic all day. I think we could see some substantial issues with some other cars in the straights and the bottoming. So this is a compromise we need to find to go the quickest around the lap and that’s something I don’t think any team have experienced before. That’s what testing’s for.”

The Briton admitted he feels the team's strongest rivals at the moment are Ferrari and McLaren: “Some teams are looking pretty fast, a red team and an orange team, in particular, looking very competitive. We’ll see what tomorrow brings and what we can do between this test and Bahrain.”

And where does the silver team stand?: “Certainly not ahead. I’m pretty sure of that. They seem to have things well under control and they look very strong; low fuel and high fuel, and with the tyre management.”

"Who knows? We all know that we're on different programs, but we definitely know from the average of all of the different runs, we're behind them at the moment.”

"Let's wait and see. The championship is not won in Barcelona in winter testing. But it's certainly been an intriguing two days so far."

The bouncing the new 2022 cars are experiencing on the straight at the Circuit of Barcelona was a topic of conversation on the second day of activity in Spain, even though Russell admitted Mercedes “didn’t experience it too much.”

“But it’s not very pleasant at all. From what I’ve seen of other teams, in particular, it would be a safety concern. So that does need to be sorted one way or another”

The 24-year-old concluded by saying he is “feeling good overall,” driving his W13 and experiencing this new era of his career at a new team, now at the Brackley-based constructor.

“I’ve always said Mercedes feel like a home and a family to me. And it has felt so natural, this transition. You know somebody said ‘how do we feel walking into the paddock this morning with Mercedes?’. And well, it felt quite natural, because these guys have been a part of my career for the last six/seven years.”

“But you know we are just here to get down the business trying to make the car go faster. From that perspective is pretty much the same as always.”