Russell urges Mercedes to "keep on pushing" with McLaren target set

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have taken a win each to start the new F1 season as the grid fears dominance across the campaign, given the relative ease of victories across the opening two rounds.

But McLaren has shown it isn't bulletproof with Lewis Hamilton taking sprint pole and victory for Ferrari at the Shanghai International Circuit, while in the Chinese Grand Prix itself, Norris was hit with a critical brake issue late in the race that saw him "lucky" to finish.

Russell has finished on the podium in each of the opening two grands prix, falling just short of overcoming Norris for second as he closed on the ailing McLaren last Sunday. Mercedes' upturn in form from last season has been underlined by his team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli's impressive start to his career, finishing fourth in Australia and sixth in China, despite being hindered by damage to his W16.

McLaren the team to beat

"We want to get the results obviously as a team and we’re working to try and catch up to McLaren," said Russell post-race.

"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."