Russell identifies team who look ‘by far’ the strongest going into 2025 season

George Russell has expressed his belief that reigning World Champions McLaren will start the 2025 campaign as “by far the strongest” outfit on the grid, having been impressed by their pace during pre-season testing.

McLaren completed their return to the top of the sport last season when they ended Red Bull’s recent run of championship success, and have set the target of doing the double by winning both the Teams’ and Drivers’ titles this time out.

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Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri appeared to hit the ground running in McLaren’s new MCL39 during pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, leaving many in the paddock to list them as favourites for the term ahead.

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In a wide-ranging interview with BBC Sport, where he touched on his rivalry with Max Verstappen, Russell expressed doubts that either Red Bull or Mercedes will have an answer to the Woking-based operation in the early rounds.

“I don’t think either of us right now have a car that potentially is capable of beating the McLaren,” said Russell, despite Norris playing down a possible advantage.

He then made clear: “McLaren, without doubt, look by far the strongest. Especially their race pace looks pretty impressive.”

Russell was nonetheless encouraged by the handling of his Mercedes in testing as the Silver Arrows look to deliver a more consistent season following last year’s rollercoaster ride of performance highs and lows.

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“There’s definitely improvements throughout the car, no doubt about it,” he went on to comment. “Naturally, there’s always something you need to work on.

“We struggled a bit with low-speed understeer last year. There’s still signs of that that we’re still trying to get on top of, and we think we’ve got some things in the locker to try and cure those issues. But definitely the car’s feeling a bit more together.”

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Russell, McLaren and the rest of the F1 grid will get some definitive answers over where they sit in the pecking order when the season kicks off with this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix – the action beginning on Friday, March 14.