George Russell has asserted that Mercedes maximising results in 2025 has given him conviction that it could beat McLaren with a more competitive car in Formula 1.
Russell’s impressive beginning to the campaign with Mercedes continued at the Chinese Grand Prix last weekend as he replicated his third-place finish from Australia.
The Briton had split the two McLarens on the grid, but he lost out to Lando Norris at the start when a run down Oscar Piastri’s inside compromised his line into Turn 1.
Russel has admitted that he spied the chance to seize the lead until Piastri covered his move and allowed his team-mate to swoop around the outside to take second.
“Obviously I lost out to Lando at the first corner,” Russell recalled to media including Motorsport Week.
“Oscar did a really good job at defending, and it’s always a bit difficult when it’s such a high-speed first corner.
“I thought I could sneak underneath him and he covered me pretty well.”
Russell revels in ‘great’ Mercedes result
Russell got back ahead when Mercedes completed an undercut on McLaren, but that was shortlived as Norris used DRS to storm past on the main straight on Lap 18.
However, Russell resisted Charles Leclerc’s advances to coast home behind the McLaren duo to cap what he later described as being among his best weekends in F1.
“Really happy with qualifying yesterday, getting in between the McLarens,” he beamed. “And then the race today was really strong.
“Called it pretty early about the one-stop and it was a bit frustrating it was so clear in the end, because I was hoping those guys ahead would have gone onto the two-stop.
“And we know at the moment we’re trying our best to catch McLaren – these guys are doing an amazing job.
“And for us to end up quite a bit ahead of Max [Verstappen] and the Ferraris right now, that’s a great result.”
“For sure if we qualified behind Max and the Ferraris yesterday, I don’t think we would have been standing on the podium today. So I think that was pretty crucial.”
Russell makes McLaren vow
Russell’s successive podiums, combined with rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli logging two top-six finishes, has consolidated Mercedes’ status as McLaren’s closest rival.
The three-time race winner believes the German marque’s improved execution bodes well should it succeed in closing its gap to the pacesetting Woking-based squad.
“We want to get the results obviously as a team and we’re working to try and catch up to McLaren,” he added.
“They’re the team to beat right now and we’re confident we can bring some performance, but they’re really doing an amazing job.
“We need to keep on scoring. The last two races, or the three races with the Sprint as well – the result we achieved was the maximum in all three.
“So that gives me a lot of satisfaction.
“And if we do deliver a car that is capable of fighting McLaren, I’ve no doubt we can finish ahead, because we’re doing such a solid job as a team.
“So yeah, we need to keep on pushing.”
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