Russell persists and signs: "We have not yet seen the best of McLaren"

Without being aware of it, without perhaps even knowing it, Max Verstappen proved his good friend George Russell wrong. By winning the Japanese Grand Prix, the Dutchman knocked off the McLaren for the first time in 2025, in a Grand Prix. And that's not what the Briton had predicted. Two weeks ago, in China, The King's Lynn native had proclaimed that McLaren should win every race this season, ensuring that the Woking team had a greater advantage than "all that Red Bull never had » in recent years, including the 2023 campaign where Red Bull won 21 of the 22 Grands Prix.

A prediction that proved wrong in the third Grand Prix of the season... but George Russell is still adamant. According to him, the cooler weather conditions at the first three rounds of the year favored Red Bull and Mercedes against McLaren. Like its predecessor, the MCL39 feels smoother on its tires, and this could work in the Woking team's favor on more exotic circuits, where temperatures will be higher.

"I don't think we've seen the best of McLaren yet, George Russell told Sky Sports F1We've had three races where it's been cold: we wore jackets here and also last week [in China]. I think when we go to Bahrain, where it's 35 degrees, and Saudi Arabia, where it's 30-35 degrees, we'll see these guys excel. We know we've always been very strong in the cooler conditions, so I'm keeping my feet on the ground. The first three races have been great, there are 21 to go. It's still a bit early."

Russell found in regularity

Although the conditions were more favorable to the Mercedes, which performs very well when the track is relatively fresh, George Russell took full advantage of these first three rounds of the season by securing two podium finishes and a 5th place in Japan. A consistency that had not been seen from him since his first season at Mercedes, in 2022. The Englishman could even have claimed a third podium in as many races if not for a small mistake in qualifying that deprived him of 4th place on the starting grid, behind Max Verstappen and the two McLarens.

“I think the last two years I haven’t been very consistent, and that’s something I wanted to work on, maybe having less fluctuations. The start of the year was solid and I’m happy. I don’t think we could have had a better result in the first two races. I think 4th place would probably have been a decent result [at the Japanese Grand Prix], but we came home with 5th.”

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