Russell identifies Mercedes’ main rivals at Imola as home hero Antonelli looks to recover from ‘messy’ start

George Russell reckons Mercedes will be fighting with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and the Ferrari drivers to come away with the ‘best of the rest’ crown at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after a comfortable McLaren 1-2 in Friday practice.

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris continued where they left off in Miami with another impressive display at the Imola circuit, while the high-flying Alpine of Pierre Gasly took third over Russell’s lead Silver Arrows machine.

FP2: Piastri leads another McLaren 1-2 at Imola as Hadjar brings out red flags

Asked if P4 is where Mercedes expected to be after the first two sessions of the weekend, Russell said: “Yeah… A few surprises out there… Gasly put in a really strong lap, and that was a bit of a surprise.

“But there’s a lot of tyre degradation; obviously we’ve got the softest compounds here, first time of the season, so that sort of spices things up a bit.

Russell: ‘We know our fight’s with Max and the Ferraris’

“We know McLaren generally seem to extend their advantage in those conditions. I had Oscar in my sights, then I didn’t… he sort of passed Max and went off. That’s just where we are at the moment as a team, and we know our fight is with Max and the Ferraris.”

As for whether he felt Mercedes were slightly closer to McLaren on those race runs, the Briton added: “No, probably closer on the quali pace than we were on the race runs, to be honest.

AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from second practice for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

“We’re just going out there, we’ve got a few new bits on the car that seem to be performing OK. We’re not setting the world on fire at the moment, but we’re just trying to be consistent and trying to pick up those points where we can.”

Russell’s team mate, Kimi Antonelli, finished back in 18th position in second practice after the Italian teenager’s soft-tyre efforts were compromised by mistakes.

IMOLA, ITALY - MAY 16: Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy driving the (12) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 — Antonelli placed 18th in FP2 as his first home Grand Prix weekend got under way

“It was quite messy today, to be honest,” he admitted afterwards. “The single lap I never really put together… in FP2 I did a mistake on top of the chicane and then the second lap I just couldn’t cool down the tyres enough, and the grip was not there anymore.

“Obviously pretty messy and obviously it’s not ideal, but I know where I need to improve for tomorrow, and something that was positive today was the long run pace. I think the long run on the medium felt pretty good, so I’m looking forward now to tomorrow.”

WATCH: Hadjar triggers red flag during FP2 at Imola after spinning into the barriers

Asked how he has been managing all the attention from his home fans, Antonelli commented: “Well, for sure it’s really special to race in front of all the Tifosi. In FP1, the first lap, it was incredible to see so many of them in the grandstands.

“Of course it’s really nice, but every time I put the visor down I always try to get as much as possible in the zone to do a good job.”