George Russell accepts Max Verstappen reality after Baku heroics

Mercedes was able to capitalize on a weak weekend for its competitors at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, bringing home an impressive P2 for an ill George Russell and P4 for Kimi Antonelli at the challenging Baku City Circuit.

George Russell, though, isn’t convinced that this means he’ll have a shot at snagging a late-season run to third overall in the World Drivers’ Championship, considering the impressive resurgence of Max Verstappen.

Verstappen resurgence leaves George Russell in doubt of P3 in WDC

For a driver who entered the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend unconvinced he’d be healthy enough to compete in Sunday’s race, George Russell once again proved himself to be one of Formula 1’s most consistent drivers in securing a P2 finish on Sunday.

Earlier in the season, that might have allowed George Russell to believe he’d have a shot at snatching third in the World Drivers’ Championship from Max Verstappen, who looked to have fizzled out in terms of mid-season form.

Yet for Russell, the late-season resurgence of Max Verstappen has him conceding that P3 would be a bit of a challenge.

That’s largely down to the fact that Baku is something of an outlier in terms of conditions.

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“This was a race where there was no overheating at all. It was more about keeping the tyres hot rather than trying to manage them to keep them cool,” Russell explained to Sky Sports F1 after the race.

“And then you had to really attack the corners to keep the temperature in the tyres.

“I don’t think it’s any surprise when you see McLaren struggling a bit more. Obviously, they had a bad day yesterday, and they probably should have been at the front, and that would have changed the whole picture for them.

“But you know, the trends are clearly there, that the cooler races were good, McLaren struggling, and vice versa.

“But Red Bull have really picked up the pace recently.”

At the conclusion of the race, Russell was left sitting P4 in the drivers’ championship standings with 212 points, 43 points in arrears of race winner Max Verstappen. But Red Bull’s late-season form has the British driver wondering if it wouldn’t be a little too premature to begin predicting that he could usurp the reigning world champion.

“I think there was a lot mistakes yesterday in qualifying, like I didn’t feel like I brought my A-game the last couple of days,” Russell continued on Sky when asked about his championship hopes.

“But you saw Ferrari were so quick this weekend, and they ended up qualifying 10th and 12th or something.

“McLaren also looked really strong, and they were out of position. So I think we just had a clean weekend, and we came home P2, P4.

“We didn’t do anything special, if that makes sense. We just stayed out of the walls.

“Definitely McLaren going to Singapore will be a different story.

“At one point, I thought we could maybe fight with Max for P3 in the championship, but he looks in a pretty strong place again now.”

Indeed, that’s a sentiment Russell echoed in the post-race FIA press conference, albeit as it pertains to Mercedes’ hopes of remaining second in the constructors’ standings.

“Well, I think right now with the current form, there’s as much chance of Max finishing ahead of us as there is Ferrari, to be honest,” Russell admitted.

Beside him, Max Verstappen quipped, “Red Bull, no?”

Smiling, Russell replied, “Yeah! Team Verstappen!”

If Russell is already predicting that Verstappen can singlehandedly bring Red Bull a second in the constructors’ standings, then it’s quite likely Verstappen will have what it takes to perform well in the drivers’ championship.

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