George Russell’s Friday at Suzuka offered a surprise twist as McLaren, the team still trying to ignite its 2026 campaign in earnest, ended the day with a punchy statement by topping the timesheets in second practice.
So far, the season has felt like a Mercedes coronation tour, with Russell and teammate Kimi Antonelli prevailing respectively in Melbourne and in Shanghai.
But as the sun set over the day’s running in Japan, the Silver Arrows found themselves looking at the rear wing of a McLaren – specifically that of Oscar Piastri, who silenced the paddock by snatching the top spot in FP2.
The Aussie outpaced the field, edging out Antonelli by just 0.092 seconds, with Russell 0.205s behind in third. It was a result that left the latter driver reassessing the pecking order.
Russell surprised by McLaren’s pace
“McLaren were pretty fast so [that was] a little bit of a surprise to be honest,” Russell admitted after FP2. “There's still some improvements we need to do so a bit of work to do tonight.”
Despite Lando Norris finishing fourth and losing nearly half the session to a hydraulic leak, Russell was impressed by the pace on display.
“I don't see why it wouldn't be genuine to be honest. I think Lando's had a disruptive day but Oscar has been pretty on it from the first lap out of the box this morning,” he added.
©Mercedes
Even as he acknowledged the challenge McLaren posed, Russell remained optimistic about Mercedes’ prospects for qualifying.
“We'll find out come qualifying. I think we've got some more to give and things weren't quite optimised, especially on my side with the energy management, so hopefully a little bit more to come tomorrow.
“There's some quite big differences in the deployment between teams and what's been optimised over the course of the lap. I think we didn't quite have that right and it should be a relatively easy fix.”
Mercedes Keeping Perspective
Behind the scenes, trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin offered a measured assessment. While McLaren’s speed was eye-catching, he stressed that Mercedes had achieved key objectives on day one.
“We’ve had a fairly straightforward first day here in Suzuka. The car ran reliably and we've been able to get through our planned work,” Shovlin said.
He highlighted the challenge of Suzuka from an energy standpoint, particularly on the single lap.
“This track is quite challenging from an energy point of view, especially on the single lap; we were losing some time out of the final chicane and that is something we will be looking to improve for tomorrow,” the British engineer added.
“In terms of pace, it looks like we are in a reasonable place although both McLaren and Ferrari have posted impressive times during the day so we're not taking anything for granted.
Japanese Grand Prix Free Practice 2 - Results“We've managed to long run all three tyre compounds during the day and that gives us useful information for Sunday. There are a few things we can chase overnight to try and improve the speed and balance of the car but overall we have got off to a decent start.”
McLaren may have shaken up the timesheets, but Russell and Shovlin are confident there’s more to unlock.
With Saturday looming, the team knows exactly what needs tweaking – and that could be the difference between reacting to a surprise and taking control of one.
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