Russell already believes it
The Bahrain Grand Prix was a bit the race of Fernando Alonso, but mainly of Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen. It looks particularly good for the world champions. In fact, according to Mercedes driver George Russell, there is no measure to Red Bull this year.
Things looked good for Red Bull after the winter test, but now there is no longer any doubt: the defending champions are also top favorites for the new season. Even though it’s still early days; it looks even better than last year. Mercedes driver George Russell thinks so too, who saw the two Red Bulls disappear from his sights soon after the start. “They should win every race this year,” said the Briton to the assembled media in Bahrain. “I don’t think anyone can really fight with them. Maybe they don’t always get pole position, because we know how strong Ferrari can be in qualifying, but in terms of race pace they are in a very strong position. Red Bull already has this championship in his pocket.”
Things look a lot less rosy for his own team. Mercedes is a bit further off the top than last year, Russell thinks. According to him, Mercedes should consider sacrificing part of this season or possibly even the whole season in order to eventually drive a much better car. He probably refers to a complete turnaround in terms of the design of the car. Mercedes is again driving a very different car in terms of aerodynamics. Team boss Toto Wolff is now also alluding to a switch to a more conventionally lined car. Then Mercedes will have to catch up quite a bit, but it seems that the team cannot get much further with the current set-up.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl