‘We can get into that title fight’: Russell backs Mercedes before new F1 season

George Russell believes he can join the fight for this season’s Formula One world championship but has warned that his Mercedes team are unlikely to match Red Bull at the opening race of the campaign.

During the second day of pre-season testing in Bahrain the British driver acknowledged that last year’s champion Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team were in fearsome form but insisted that Mercedes would bring their car up to speed with a formidable development programme. When asked if he thought he could take the title, the 25-year-old was unequivocal.

“I definitely head into the season believing I can,” he said. “At every point of my career I have gone in believing but you need to take a rational view once you get to the track.”

Russell, who took his debut win and Mercedes’ only victory of the season in 2022, was confident this year’s car was in a far more promising position than last season’s which was well off the pace but noted that he did not expect to be challenging at the first round next weekend at the Sakhir circuit.

“We definitely believe that eventually we will have a car capable of getting into that [title] fight,” he said. “But Red Bull are looking very strong, very stable, and obviously Max is performing really well so realistically it will be a stretch for us next week.

“But there is no reason why we cannot get there eventually at some point this year. We have always seen in the past the strength of Mercedes’ development rate, so the belief is there.”

Verstappen was quickest in both sessions on the first test day and on Friday followed it by being second fastest in a Red Bull which is displaying the same ominously strong form it carried through to the end of 2022, when the team claimed 17 wins from 22