Russell gives Verstappen the title: 'Used to the crazy dominance'

F1 News

russell expects max verstappen title and saw two years of dominance
22 August at 18:15
  • Ludo van Denderen

With three wins in the last four Grands Prix, Mercedes have shown they are back. However, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton's team are not thinking of a world title, even with their current top form. According to the former, on paper, only one driver could keep Max Verstappen from his fourth world title, but Russell does not believe this will happen.

So Russell does not see himself or fellow Hamilton as a title contender, Lando Norris he does see as a contender. "Yeah, I think at the moment there's only one driver, that's probably Lando, who can beat Max in the championship," the Brit told GPblog and others. "They (Red Bull) obviously had such an incredible start to the season, but who knows with the number of races we have."

Times have changed. In the recent past, the season was already over after 20 Grand Prix, but this season, the tally stands at 24 events. "So there's still lots of opportunity. But personally, I don't see anybody catching up with Max and Red Bull in normal circumstances. They have an exceptional lead. It's just we've been used to crazy dominance in the last two years."

Mercedes can focus on Ferrari

Among constructors, Mercedes are 79 points behind Ferrari. Perhaps third place in that championship is achievable for the German team. But Russell says: "I think the performances we've been shown recently have been really, really strong, but we're not too focused on those points right now. We're just taking a race by race, trying to understand the car further and try to get some more victories under our belt."

This article has been written in collaboration with Matt Gretton

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