“Red Bull still hides real speed”

The start was not entirely flawless, but in the end Max Verstappen drove unthreatened to victory in Australia. As long as his car (or his body) doesn’t show any problems, Verstappen seems to be a favorite every race weekend. At least George Russell thinks so, because according to him Red Bull is not yet getting the most out of the RB19. “They hold back anyway. I feel like they are almost too embarrassed to show their full potential, because they are faster than they seem,” he says to the BBC. The British driver thinks that Red Bull is roughly seven tenths per lap faster than the rest.

According to Russell, there is a good reason for Red Bull not to drive too fast. “The faster they appear, the more the sport will try to hold them back.” The ‘sport’ in this case might be Russell’s team boss Toto Wolff, who was at the forefront of rule changes during the season last year, for example. Russell has no illusions about his own team: it needs to be worked on. “They (Red Bull, ed.) Have done a great job, to be honest. We cannot take that away, so it is up to us to take it up a notch.”