From Motorsport · Ronald Vording · · 1m
George Russell calls Red Bull 'the team to beat' in F1
George Russell says Red Bull is F1's new benchmark but Mercedes needs to unlock its upgrade potential.
In brief
George Russell says Red Bull is F1's new benchmark but Mercedes needs to unlock its upgrade potential. George Russell states Red Bull is the current F1 benchmark after three strong races, but Mercedes' upgrade has yet to deliver full performance gains. Originally reported by Motorsport.
George Russell
George Russell calls Red Bull the team to beat in F1.
“Yeah, I mean, 5, 10 or 20 seconds more; it would have helped the picture, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over that”
Mercedes upgrade
Mercedes introduced W17 upgrade for Singapore GP but performance gains are limited.
“The numbers say it's performing as we expect, but obviously the lap times haven't been that great”
Kimi Antonelli
Kimi Antonelli says Mercedes hasn't fully extracted potential from W17 upgrade.
“I think it’s probably mostly us not extracting the maximum out of the new package”
Performance window
Mercedes' W17 upgrade has a narrow window for performance gains.
“It's just that the window is very small at the moment, the window in which the car operates”
Austin GP
Mercedes aims to clinch title at US GP with three free practices.
“In Austin, we have three free practices, so we can be very open-minded with the set-up”
Red Bull's lead
Red Bull has won three races in Singapore, Malaysia and Baku.
“Right now they are the team to beat”
Next steps
Mercedes needs to unlock W17 potential before US GP.
“We can use the full potential of the package and finally see the gains”
What it means
George Russell states Red Bull is the current F1 benchmark after three strong races, but Mercedes' upgrade has yet to deliver full performance gains.
