“Something very, very trick,” George Russell baffled by Red Bull’s “incredible” advantage with DRS
George Russell further claimed that even if Mercedes took their whole rear wing off, they would still be slower than Red Bull on the straights!
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George Russell
George Russell, the Mercedes F1 driver, has after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix admitted that Red Bull has got the most advanced ‘Drag Reduction System’ amongst the current F1 teams. The Brackley-based Mercedes team was no match for the RB19 in Baku and Russell is baffled as to how Red Bull has managed to develop such a potent system.
The RB19 has proved to be immensely mighty this year and while shedding light on the same, Russell made a rather outrageous deduction, “We know what the speed difference is. I think we believe we could take the rear wing fully off, and Red Bull would still be quicker than us on the straights, and that’s not even a joke. So we don’t understand what they’re doing.”
The Mercedes driver further added: “They’ve clearly done something incredible… Something very, very trick. And kudos to them for whatever they’ve done to achieve this straight-line performance. But especially with the DRS, as I said, we believe we can take the rear wing fully off and they’d still be quicker than us. So something’s not adding up from our side.”
The young Briton has clearly made it known that Red Bull’s RB19 is the car to beat and this year and Mercedes just hasn’t been able to figure out what exactly the Milton-Keynes-based team has done in order to make its car a lethal weapon. Russell is so baffled with their DRS system that he has even gone on to say that even if Mercedes takes its whole rear wing off, the Red Bulls would still be faster than them.
George Russell’s take on choosing his fights during the Azerbaijan GP
While George Russell has indicated that Red Bull is in a league of its own this year, he was asked whether he could have fought Max Verstappen a bit harder during Azerbaijan GP. He responded, “Yeah, of course, you can always do things better. But the fact is Max wasn’t my fight in that position. He was always going to overtake at some point. So you need to pick your battles, and I picked my battle at that restart. And he didn’t at the race start.”
The 25-year-old through his comments, has made it known that there was not much he could have done to keep Verstappen behind him during the Grand Prix. Moreover, has admitted that he was fighting the cars that were behind the front pack. Russell ended his Baku Street Circuit exploits in P8, after starting P11. He had struggled in Friday qualifying – it was certainly not an ideal weekend for him.
The 2023 F1 season is four races down, but there are still 19 races remaining on the calendar. With the Miami GP taking place next weekend, would George Russell and Co. be able to dig deep into its arsenal and find ways to at least challenge the Red Bull F1 team at the upcoming event? Or is the story going to be the same like it has been so far in the season?
In case you missed it:
- F1 Azerbaijan GP: “Today shows that hunger is there,” Lewis Hamilton reaffirms motivation to succeed following impressive comeback at Baku
- “Max races Lewis differently,” Toto Wolff blasts Max Verstappen for particularly targeting Lewis Hamilton
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Rishabh Negi
(3244 Articles Published)