George Russell says Kimi Antonelli agrees with him over Mercedes’ car in Hungary as Ferrari dominate

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George Russell and Kimi Antonelli came to the same conclusion regarding Mercedes’ usually dominant F1 car during the first day of running at the Hungarian Grand Prix, according to the seven-time Grand Prix winner.

The top spots during practice were dominated by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton on Friday afternoon, with the former claiming P1 in the first hour of practice, and the latter answering back with the fastest time in FP2.

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While Antonelli has usually been plug-and-play when it comes to the initial practice sessions this season, the Italian championship leader ended Friday nearly two seconds off the pace in P13. In turn, Russell couldn’t get within nine tenths of his former teammate, Hamilton.

• READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton leads Ferrari one-two to top a red-flagged FP2 at the 2026 Hungarian GP

Both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli had a ‘far from great’ car on Friday at the Hungarian Grand Prix

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the conclusion of FP2, Russell gave his immediate verdict on Ferrari’s chokehold at the top of the timesheets on the first day of the proceedings in Hungary.

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The British title contender began by outlining why Friday had been such a “strange” day for himself and the rest of the grid: “I mean it was quite a strange day out there, I think for everybody. Budapest is an amazing track to drive, but they’ve resurfaced half of the track.

“It’s super bumpy, a lot of it’s breaking up around the last couple of corners, which is making it quite strange to drive on. Our single lap didn’t look great, but the long run looked more competitive.

“What we, I guess, essentially feared with Ferrari seemed to be the case; they look very, very strong.”

Ferrari entered the race weekend in Budapest as the staunch favourites due to the SF-26’s prowess in the medium-speed corners – a common characteristic of the 14 turns at the Hungaroring.

In somewhat of a potential shift in momentum, Antonelli ended the day quite a way off the pace. The Italian was absent from FP1 as Frederik Vesti took the reins of his W17, and struggled to get up to speed in the second hour of practice.

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Russell concluded by highlighting how both he and Antonelli came to the same conclusion, saying, “For both Kimi and I, the car was far from great, to be honest.

“We think there is room to improve, but it’s really windy today, and I think the wind is going to be shifting, so that could be changing a lot.”