10/05/2025 08:20
George Russell has asserted he has no concerns regarding the
legality of McLaren's F1 car following its strong start to the
season. The Woking-based outfit has taken five grand prix victories
at the opening six events, emerging as the clear favourite for
title success this year. However, the team has faced scrutiny from
Red Bull who has carried out its own investigation into McLaren's
tyre cooling measures. McLaren CEO Zak Brown responded to the
allegation by drinking from a bottle labelled 'Tire Water' during
the Miami GP weekend, a reference to suggestions the team is
illegally using water to keep its tyres cool. Mercedes team
principal Toto Wolff declared in Miami that he had "no doubt" the
MCL39 is operating within the regulations. Asked for his take on
the legality of McLaren's car, Russell told Sky F1 : "I don't
believe they're doing anything untoward. "They've been this
dominant condition for 18 months now, so you've got to give them
credit where credit's due, and the rest of us have to improve. "We
have ideas ourselves where we can improve in this regard, but
that's a long-term process, and that's a bit of a bummer. "But this
is Formula 1, when there's a team dominating, it's very challenging
to catch back up." McLaren 'still the best' on their worst day -
George Russell McLaren enjoyed a dominant run to the chequered flag
in Miami last weekend, with race winner Oscar Piastri crossing the
line 37 seconds ahead of the next non-McLaren car. As McLaren
continues to stretch its lead in the championships, Russell
highlighted its pace is so great that even its bad days still leave
it at the head of the pecking order. "What we saw from them in the
likes of China and Japan, it's probably their worst case
scenario," he said. "What we're seeing in the hot race of Bahrain
and Miami is their best case scenario. "On their worst day,
they're still the best. On their best day, they're the best. "We
want to keep on improving. It's clearly down to tyre temperatures
because they're just making the step when it's really hot. "Max
[Verstappen] has said it once or twice already as well - it's like
nine teams are doing something wrong, it's only one team that has
got it really right. So we've got to improve."
