​George Russell has warned that Red Bull could be the toughest challenge for Mercedes as the teams head into the British Grand Prix, after he narrowly beat Max Verstappen to victory in Austria. Russell edged Verstappen by only 1.6 seconds last week, and Verstappen could have challenged more strongly if Red Bull had brought him in earlier after Russell’s second stop. Although Verstappen closed the gap during the second stint, he had to claw back after emerging from the pits 11 seconds behind the race winner.
Silverstone’s high-speed layout is expected to play to Red Bull’s strengths again, prompting questions on Thursday about whether they will pose the main threat to Mercedes on race day. Speaking to GPblog and other outlets, Russell said: “I think Ferrari had a tough race with overheating issues in Austria, so they didn’t show their full potential. Red Bull have historically been fast in high-speed corners, and that was the case again in Austria. It’s three, four, five drivers who are in the mix week in, week out.”
While Russell remains at the forefront of that group, he noted the sport’s evolving competition, pointing to Lando Norris in Miami, Lewis Hamilton’s win in Barcelona, and Verstappen’s near-miss in Austria as signs of a tight battle.
In Austria, Verstappen had questioned why only a single yellow flag was shown after his Turn 9 crash, which allowed Russell to lift off the throttle and still complete a pole-setting lap. Verstappen defended Russell’s tactic, saying he would likely have done the same, but argued that the situation should have featured double yellow flags or red flags to prevent finishing a lap under those conditions. He commented on Thursday that the rule was odd and that it should be possible to invalidate such a lap, calling for a clearer standard to avoid similar ambiguities in the future.