George Russell has shared his theory on Max Verstappen’s pace at Formula 1‘s United States Grand Prix, believing the high-speed track suits Red Bull.
An action-packed Sprint Race on Saturday at the Circuit of the Americas saw Verstappen take victory ahead of Russell, following a double-DNF for McLaren.
The Dutchman backed up his strong performance by storming to pole in qualifying, putting him in position to make more inroads in the Drivers’ Championship.
Despite that, Verstappen and Red Bull found themselves on edge with the RB21.
Verstappen found his car’s balance to be troubling during the Sprint, while Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko added that degradation was higher than expected.
However, Verstappen did add that the team no longer feels as lost as it did earlier in the season, with pace expected to be stronger during the race.
“Max was obviously super quick. It’s not the first time we’ve seen them being super strong in qualifying on high-speed tracks,” Russell told media including Motorsport Week.
“They were on pole in Silverstone, on pole in Suzuka, and on pole here.
“They seem to have really good downforce when the car is really low to the ground, which is what you have in the high-speed corners.”
The Mercedes driver found himself on the back of Verstappen throughout Saturday’s 19-lap sprint, which he found unsurprising.
“I think their aero map is very good when the car is very low to the ground. And you have that in the very high-speed corners.
“For us, it’s the opposite, we’re very bad in these conditions.
“In the race, you’re going through the high-speed corners maybe 20 kilometres or so slower. That means the car is higher, so we’re not dropping off the cliff and everything converges.”
Russell hopes to ‘fight for the podium’ in Austin
Russell could make it three wins in 2025 with a victory in Austin. However, he knows such a feat will be difficult with the competition around him from fourth place.
“I hope we can fight for the podium,” Russell said when quizzed on his hopes for Sunday’s race.
“There are obviously a lot of different teams around us. Oscar is out of position, and I expect him to be fast, so he needs to get around Turn 1 first.”
The Mercedes driver also mentioned that two separate Safety Car periods during the 19-lap Sprint Race means the field is lacking a long-run reference.
“We finished two and a half seconds in front of a Williams,” he assessed. “We would have expected more performance than that.
“And we haven’t seen what McLaren is capable of, we always know that they’re pretty special in those hot conditions.
“During the Sprint Race, what did we do, maybe 10 or 11 laps. Tomorrow we’ve got 55 laps to do.”
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