EXCLUSIVE: Two Sky Sports activities pundits have informed Specific Sport that Mercedes driver will not have issues all his personal method this yr.
George Russell is feeling good forward of an F1 season he and Mercedes are tipped to dominate (Picture: Getty)
You will not discover a single main bookmaker within the nation providing shorter odds on another driver successful the Formulation 1 title than these given to George Russell. The Brit has all the time had a spring in his step, however has been strutting round with an additional air of confidence in pre-season. He is aware of, like many have suspected for some time now, that his new Mercedes automotive is an efficient one.
However Russell has been warned that he faces a menace from two rival drivers who, compared, have not actually been talked about all that a lot by way of the title dialog. And it’s unusual, provided that McLaren are the defending champions, that neither 2025 title-winner Lando Norris nor his team-mate Oscar Piastri, who led the standings for six months final yr, have had as a lot of the pre-season highlight.
Sky Sports activities F1 analyst Bernie Collins believes that’s by design. “I feel they’ve actively tried to go below the radar. They’ve not gone for the glory run laps [in testing]. Even final yr, they tried to downsell their probabilities of securing the constructors’ fairly early,” the previous McLaren and Aston Martin strategist informed Specific Sport.
“However they are going to have the identical energy unit as Mercedes. Sure, they’ve needed to combine it into their automotive, and that is not as easy a course of, however they need to nonetheless produce a fairly sturdy chassis and automotive, I feel.
“What’s thrilling this season is we have fairly just a few automobiles shut behind, which isn’t what we have been anticipating. We have been anticipating extra of a gulf between automobiles, no less than at this stage.”
“He is bided his time, and he is learnt his commerce, and he has learnt from one of the best in Lewis [Hamilton], and now he is main the staff with Kimi [Antonelli].
“And I feel 2026 could possibly be his yr. A little bit of strutting, shoulders again, all the arrogance. However that is nice. He is such a stunning bloke, and it is good to see him blossoming in that function.”
Leave a Reply