17/04/2025 09:15
George Russell has conceded he does not believe he is part of the
F1 title battle this year despite his strong start to the 2025
campaign. Russell ended the Bahrain Grand Prix in second place,
marking his third podium in the opening four grands prix. The
Mercedes driver currently sits fourth in the drivers' standings, 14
points behind championship leader Lando Norris following their dual
in Bahrain which saw Russell hold off his rival in the final laps.
The pair were unable to make in-roads on race-winner Oscar Piastri
who scored a dominant win for McLaren. Although Russell has enjoyed
his strongest start to a season by far, the 27-year-old does not
see himself figuring in the title equation this year. "I'd love to
say so, but I don't think we are, to be honest," Russell told media
including RacingNews365 . "McLaren are just too dominant right now.
"I think this is probably going to be their peak performance – what
we saw in Bahrain. "And what we saw in China and Suzuka is probably
their worst-case scenario and they still obviously got one victory
from those two races." While Russell is enjoying a strong stint to
open the campaign, he warned his consistent results may not be a
common theme going forward. "We've got to keep on picking up the
points, picking up the pieces," he said. "And [in Bahrain] we
picked up the pieces to get a P2 – and we did it in Melbourne as
well to get the P3. "I don't expect this to continue for many
races to come, but who knows."
