Russell claims he'd have beaten Verstappen in Norris' shoes
F1 News
George Russell believes that if he had been racing in the McLaren or the Red Bull this year, he would be a world champion. Max Verstappen was crowned a four-time world champion in Las Vegas, his fourth consecutive title. Lando Norris was Verstappen's closest challenger for most of the season, but couldn't get close enough to the Dutchman.
Big claims from Russell
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Russell was asked whether he could have won the 2024 world title in the McLaren, to which he answered: "Yes, absolutely" and also believed he would have won it in the Red Bull: "For sure."
Russell elaborated further, saying, "Max has won once in the last 12 races so he is very beatable. The difference (between Verstappen and Norris) is that when Max has had the chance he has won, whereas his rivals who should have beaten him this year did not. They (Norris and McLaren) have thrown away a lot of points and therefore Max, who is an exceptional driver, has won the championship early. I say I could have won in the Red Bull because it was the quickest car at the start. Even "Checo" (Perez) was second a few times. It’s only in the second half of the season that they were the third-best team."
This weekend in Qatar, Russell starts from P2 for the sprint race, which takes place ahead of qualifying. Usually, when the Mercedes qualifies well, they come away with a good result Russell believes. "If you look at the three times we have had a chance to take pole we have done so on all of them. All the races where we were capable of winning we have done that, other than in Montreal. On the majority of occasions, we came away with the best result we could."
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