13 September 2023 , 20:45
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George Russell recognises teams have had dominant spells throughout Formula 1's history, but still considers Red Bull's runaway lead in 2023 "a bit of a shame".
After 14 of the 22 races on the calendar, Red Bull have 14 wins. Twelve of those have gone the way of Max Verstappen, who has more points on his own than Mercedes have as a team.
Most recently, Verstappen came out on top in Italy for his 10th win on the spin. Russell, who finished fifth in Monza and sits seventh in the overall standings, spoke out about the state of play before the previous Grand Prix in the Netherlands, with his comments now coming to light.
“I think for probably 25 years now, there’s always been a team that has dominated during a certain period so it is definitely a bit of a shame," Russell said, per PlanetF1. “You can’t take it away from Red Bull, they’re obviously doing an amazing job and you need to give them credit for that.
“But as I said, it’s a shame because the fight for second at the moment between us, McLaren, Aston and Ferrari is actually really exciting. So I don’t know how you achieve that in the sport but that’s the goal for sure."
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While Red Bull hold an unassailable overall lead, the race for second remains alive with 56 points separating Mercedes in second and Aston Martin in fourth, with Ferrari in between. Aston Martin's improvement has meant three teams are fighting for that second spot, rather than the two last year when Ferrari finished just 39 clear of Mercedes in the overall standings.
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George Russell's Mercedes team are still in the hunt for second (Getty Images)Russell is under no illusions about Red Bull's quality, not to mention the fact their ceiling could also rise, but he has still taken some positives from the sport's past. “I mean, when you look at the turn in form that Aston Martin had over last winter, the turn of form that McLaren has had, that definitely gives optimism that it can happen," the Brit added.
“Obviously Red Bull are going to continue to improve, it’s going to be difficult for sure. But you know, we saw Red Bull catch Mercedes in the Mercedes era in 2021 and that was sort of unforeseen as well as 2020 from Mercedes was a really dominant year. Then in 2021, Red Bull starts with the quickest car.
“We’ll be pushing for that but we’re not going to put any huge expectations on next year. We will sort of take it race by race, making sure we get all of the right information to make the best decisions possible between now and the Bahrain test next year.”