Russell: Mexico City Qualifying 'Can Go Any Way' After Tight Friday Practice

George Russell believes qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix is wide open after a tightly packed Friday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, where the top four teams were separated by fractions of a second.

Why it matters:

Russell sat out FP1 as Mercedes handed his car to reserve driver Fred Vesti, then recovered to finish third in FP2 — just 0.003s behind Lando Norris and roughly a tenth off Charles Leclerc's benchmark. With Ferrari looking strongest but the margins razor thin, Saturday's grid could swing either way.

The details:

• Russell pointed to 2026's high-downforce approach — with active aero opening front and rear on the straights — as a shift from Mexico's usual medium-to-low downforce setups.
• "It's even lower grip than we're used to. Turbo lag is an issue," he said, with no MGU-H to smooth boost delivery.
• Deputy Team Principal Bradley Lord called it a "solid, not spectacular" day, citing power unit cooling, brake cooling and boost management as the key puzzles.
• Russell expects Ferrari to remain the reference, praising their chassis, but insists Q3 is "any way" territory.

What's next:

Mercedes see the potential to fight for pole, but Russell knows the difference will come down to execution: "I need to pull the lap out when it matters."