Verstappen's win makes Russell wonder: 'Would McLaren be 1 or 5 tenths quicker?'

21:00, 07 Apr

byNorberto Mujica

George Russell feels that by leading the Mclarens, Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen kept the papaya team from unleashing their true pace at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Russell spent the entirety of the race behind Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, and ahead of Mercedes teammate, Andrea Kimi Antonelli. See the full results of the Japanese Grand Prix here.

"I think it's these last two weekends [in China and Japan], the tyre compounds have just been too hard for the resurfacing, and it's been an easy one-stop for both races, and that's just really taken any fun from the strategy," said Russell after the race.

"I hope we can maybe react as a sport, because it's as I said we all finished where we started and there just wasn't enough difference in the tyre degradation," added the Briton pinpointing the root cause behind the lack of action during the Japanese Grand Prix.

'Verstappen kept McLaren's pace contained'

Mercedes is often seen as Mclaren's closest contender this season, however it was Max Verstappen who emerged as the winner of the race at Suzuka, something Russell believes could be misleading.

"Ultimately you could only go as fast as the driver in front of you. You saw this with McLaren, they were the same as Verstappen. If they were ahead would they be one tenth quicker or five tenths quicker?" The Briton wonders, suggesting that by trailing the Dutchman, McLaren's true pace in Suzuka was capped.

"For me, I was just doing the same lap times as Charles. I think realistically P4 would be the maximum from this weekend. We finished P5, so not ideal, but not terrible," concluded Russell on the potential within his Mercedes.