Russell overhauled an early benchmark from Sergio Perez to put his car on top with a 1m25.163s, and later increased the pace as the circuit improved over the course of the session; on his second soft-tyre run, he put together a 1m24.829s.
Despite a series of challenges from other drivers as they worked their way through the soft-tyre allocations that were left untouched during the oft-interrupted FP2, Russell upped the ante with a 1m24.418s to cement his place at the top.
