George Russell and Lewis Hamilton admit Mercedes are behind ahead of F1 season - ‘Red Bull in a league of their own’

George Russell believes Red Bull are “in a league of their own” whilst Lewis Hamilton admits Mercedes have not fixed all their issues from last year ahead of the season-opening Formula 1 race. Having lost the constructors’ championship for the first time since 2013, Mercedes were hoping to bounce back for this season. Ad However, pre-season testing suggested they are still behind Red Bull and will be fighting Ferrari, plus Aston Martin, who had a very impressive test.

Formula 1Hamilton promises 'nothing will stop me from speaking' amid FIA ban on political comments15/02/2023 AT 18:35 “It probably wasn't the smoothest three days we could have hoped for,” Russell told the press ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix. “I went back to the UK [after the test]. I was on the simulator and the learnings, the findings we found I think is going to put us in better stead for this weekend.

“But I think it's definitely fair to say Red Bull are in a league of their own this weekend here in Bahrain, but I think it would probably be a nice fight for second place, probably between Ferrari and Aston Martin. “We feel like we have got a lot of room that we can improve. Probably brought up a little bit more pace this weekend after the learnings of testing.

“But it's going to be for sure a challenging weekend if we want to try and fight for that victory. But we probably knew that ahead of the season.” Last year saw Hamilton fail to win a race in a season for the first time since he made his Formula 1 debut in 2007. One more world championship would see him surpass Michael Schumacher for the most titles in the sport’s history.