Mercedes fears McLaren and Red Bull "are a step ahead"

Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell sounded a positive note after the opening day at the British Grand Prix, but they expressed their fears that Red Bull and McLaren might be a step ahead at Silverstone.

Mercedes continued its relentless development push at this weekend's British Grand Prix as the British outfit brought further upgrades to Silverstone.

The W15 looked extremely quick on hards in Free Practice 1 and on mediums in Free Practice 2, but the car did not like the softs when Lewis Hamilton and George Russell completed their qualifying simulation runs.

Ultimately, the two British drivers ended the day in P6 and P10 with the seven-time world champion having enjoyed a slight edge over Russell after the opening day.

The 103-time race winner was delighted with his car, but indicated that the W15 might be a step away from the field-leading duo of McLaren and Red Bull.

"The car felt generally good today. We’re still a little bit behind the ultimate pace at the front but today was encouraging. I don’t think the times are fully representative of where our speed was, but nevertheless, we know we’ve got work to do tonight.

"We will therefore do what we can to try and find more performance and hopefully that can get us a little closer to those ahead.

"It is always great to be here at Silverstone. The size of the crowd seems to grow every year and it was awesome to see all their support. Hopefully we can give them something to cheer about over the rest of the weekend."

His team-mate George Russell echoed Hamilton's words, claiming that his car looked more competitive in the opening 60-minute session.

"FP1 was a strong session with the car feeling great. FP2 was a slightly more challenging hour, and we need to pick through why that was.

"It was much windier, and I don’t think we got the tyres in the right window, so that could explain a chunk of it. The conditions are likely to change across the weekend, with more rain possible too, so we will have to be adaptive. I hope the fans didn’t get too wet this afternoon; as always, it was fantastic to see their support in the grandstands.

"After today’s running, I’d say that the competitive picture looks similar to the past few races. McLaren and Max (Verstappen) look a step ahead and it’s close between ourselves and Ferrari. We will work hard overnight to try and take a step forward and see where that leaves us tomorrow."

Speaking of Mercedes' opening day on home soil, Trackside Engineering Director Adrew Shovlin noted that the W15 appeared to be sensitive to the wind gusts in the second practice.

"We got off to a decent start with both cars in FP1. The balance around the lap was reasonably good and both drivers were relatively happy.

"With the first session being interrupted by a red flag, we didn't manage as much long run work as we hoped for, but it seemed that we had the car in a decent place.

"For FP2, the wind picked up a little and overall, the car was a bit less stable. It's good to highlight these issues today though whilst we can still work on the setup. We've got some work planned overnight to try and understand the balance issues a bit further.

"We are optimistic that we can make progress and with that, we should find a bit more pace for the rest of the weekend."