George Russell said Mercedes were “nowhere” in Friday practice at the British Grand Prix.<\/span><\/p>\n Russell and team-mate Lewis Hamilton were 12th and 15th fastest as they lagged more than a second behind Max Verstappen’s pace-setting Red Bull.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This was despite Mercedes introducing a new front wing, the latest in a series of recent car upgrades aimed at moving them closer to the front of the field.<\/span><\/p>\n Russell said the team “had to try to understand” their lack of pace.<\/span><\/p>\n Hamilton said: “It’s a tough car to drive and no matter what we do to set it up, it remains a tough car to drive.”<\/span><\/p>\n The seven-time champion said he felt no improvement when changing from the medium to the theoretically faster soft tyre.<\/span><\/p>\n “That shows that’s something’s wrong,” Hamilton said. “We’re missing something. And on the long run it didn’t seem too bad, so that’s a positive at least.<\/span><\/p>\n “George is over here with the set-up and I’m over here. He was saying I was thinking of coming over to where you are but your lap time is slow. And I was like I was thinking of coming to where you are. <\/span><\/p>\n “We will work on it tonight and hopefully we will come up with something for tomorrow.”<\/span><\/p>\n Hamilton’s race-simulation pace was more competitive. He was faster than the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz – which was second fastest on a single lap, just 0.022secs slower than Verstappen – but still considerably slower than the world champion’s Red Bull.<\/span><\/p>\n Russell said: “Definitely not our finest Friday. Conditions will be different tomorrow. We need to try to get to the bottom of it. <\/span><\/p>\n “The pace in first practice was looking quite good on the medium tyre. We thought we were right up there, if we took the soft.<\/span><\/p>\n “But in P2 we were nowhere and we just need to try and understand that. <\/span><\/p>\n “We see a small trend that when the temperature is hotter we seem to take a bit of a step backwards we have some ideas why that is.”<\/span><\/p>\n Temperatures at Silverstone on Friday, when 120,000 spectators attended the track, were in the high 20Cs but are expected to drop a little for the weekend, when rain also threatens.<\/span><\/p>\n Verstappen looked imperious, despite his small margin over Sainz, and his long run on a race fuel load was especially impressive.<\/span><\/p>\n The Dutchman’s race-simulation run was more than 0.5secs a lap on average quicker on the same soft tyre than team-mate Sergio Perez, with Sainz a little further behind. <\/span><\/p>\n Williams driver Alex Albon was an impressive third fastest, with team-mate Logan Sargeant fifth behind Perez.<\/span><\/p>\n Lando Norris was 14th fastest in the upgraded McLaren that impressed so much last weekend in Austria.<\/span><\/p>\n Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc did not get out in the session at all after the team discovered an electrical problem over the lunch break.<\/span><\/p>\n Fernando Alonso, third in the championship for Aston Martin, was only 10th fastest on single-lap pace, with team-mate Lance Stroll sixth, ahead of the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg, Pierre Gasly’s Alpine and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.<\/span><\/p>\n Piastri, an Australian who is in his debut season, has on his car for the first time the upgrade that Norris debuted in Austria, while Norris has those parts in addition to a new front wing.<\/span><\/p>\n A number of the drivers said that they were struggling for grip, especially in the first session, as they tried a new, more robust Pirelli tyre construction for the first time.<\/span><\/p>\n Pirelli have introduced the tyre to lessen the risk of failures at high-speed tracks such as Silverstone. But the despite what the company says is a stronger construction, the teams were told to run the tyres at unusually high pressures – 26.5psi at the front and 23psi at the rear.<\/span><\/p>\n This compares with 23 and 20psi at the Austrian Grand Prix last weekend and 24 and 20psi at the Spanish Grand Prix last month.<\/span><\/p>\n As the session ended, Hollywood star Brad Pitt was preparing to take to the track in a modified Formula 2 car, the first race at which filming will take place for the new Apple F1 movie.<\/span><\/p>\n The Oscar winner, who has been practising at Silverstone in the lead up to the race, is playing a veteran racer called Sonny Hayes who returns to the sport to mentor a rising young star.<\/span><\/p>\n The film crew are operating out of their own garage at Silverstone and will continue their work at a number of races over the rest of the season.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"British](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/onesport\/cps\/624\/cpsprodpb\/1588\/production\/_130321550_britishgrandprix.jpg\")
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