George ends a disrupted Friday in P11 as Formula One returns to Albert Park for the Australian Grand Prix.

Taking to the track for the first time in three years, George began the session on the Hard compound Pirelli tyres to put in a 1.24.361 lap time on his first run to place himself into P13.

An early red flag for debris on the track halted track action whilst it was cleared, and the session quickly resumed with George re-joining on Soft tyres.

The Brit continued to improve throughout the session, putting in his best lap time of a 1.21.457 to move him into P8 before a flurry of fast laps moved him into P11.

A late red flag prevented George from improving any further and the Brit ended FP1 in P12.

With the threat of rain in the air, George quickly took to the track on a set of Medium tyres as he continued to gather valuable run data.

Setting a benchmark lap of 1.28.239 on his first run, George slotted into P10 before returning to the pits.

After a lengthy stay in the pits, the Brit ventured back out on track on a set of Soft tyres as he prepared to put in some fast runs.

With his best lap time of a 1.20.212, George moved himself into P8 with 27 minutes remaining on the clock before a flurry of fast times pushed him into P11.

A third red flag of the day brought running to a stop again as bodywork from the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll was retrieved.

George returned to the track for the final moments of the session but was unable to improve on his previous lap time, ending the day in P11.

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George Russell – Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One™ Team Driver

We're not in a position where we want to be, there are quite a few midfield cars ahead of us and we're obviously a long way off the pace from the front. We need to work hard tonight and understand the limitations. The car actually felt alright, we're porpoising pretty bad into turn nine but I think that's something we just have to deal with for the time being. We believe how we set the car up was the fastest way around the track but maybe it's not, so we'll be working hard tonight to understand more. Driving is always cool, especially driving round a circuit like this - it's just more fun when you jump out of the car and see your name near the top of the timesheets!

Track action will return with FP3 on Saturday, April 9 from 4am BST.

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