The Briton, who finished the Australian Grand Prix in fifth place - a full 50 seconds behind the winner Russell - believes the SF-26 is the strongest car on the grid, particularly through corners.

Speaking to Sky Deutschland, he said: “I think Ferrari, from what we see, quite clearly they have the best car. Their cornering speeds are unbelievable. So for us to match that is zero chance at the minute and we have to work very hard to understand things and learn as much as we can from this part of the season.”

Mercedes has clearly shown a major engine advantage, both in outright power and in battery efficiency - something that, for now, appears out of reach for the other teams, Ferrari included.

The Melbourne race winner suggested the reigning world champion’s view of the 2026 Formula 1 cars might look very different if McLaren still enjoyed the kind of advantage it had last season.

Russell pointed out that in F1 everyone tends to judge the situation from their own perspective, admitting that drivers and teams are inherently self-interested when it comes to such debates. He noted that last year Mercedes and McLaren shared the same power unit, yet the Woking-based team managed to do a better job and ultimately came out on top.