Russell, who heads into the weekend trailing Antonelli by 66 points in the championship, had before practice descried the Madring as “less margin than Monaco, purely because of the speed”.

He said: “In Monaco, the walls are closer, but because you’re going far slower, if you make a mistake, you’re not into the wall as quickly, and you can recover it sometimes, a small lock-up.

“There’s a lot of really fast corners, but the barrier is kind of like coming back on to the track. So, if you are to go wide and hit the wall, you’re not hitting it kind of at the same angle as the car is going. The wall is sort of coming in at you.”

Russell singled out Turns Five, Seven and 17. Leclerc went off into the run-off area in 17.

Russell said: “Another element of the challenge here, which probably won’t cause major crashes, but I think there’ll be a lot of lock-ups.

“You’ve got three corners where you’re turning and braking, and if you lock up, the wall is right in front of you, which is very reminiscent of the corner in Baku, Turn 15. You know, the one down the hill where a lot of people go off.”

There is also a section of high-speed swerves, Russell said, which is similar to the fast Jeddah street track in Saudi Arabia.

The drivers’ fears about potential crashes were underlined by an fiery accident in Formula 2 practice involving Thai driver Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, who was uninjured in the incident.