McLaren unbeatable? Russell says where they are strong and where are not
13:32, 20 Mar 2025
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A filmmaker with a soft spot for Ronnie Peterson, Gilles Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and above all, Tazio Nuvolari and Ayrton Senna, is also a diehard Formula One fan since the age of 4 (mid-90's). An avid researcher of the past of Grand Prix Racing since before it was even named F1, and with a thirst for knowledge of the ins and outs of the actuality of the sport, as well as for the technical aspects that define it, is a member of GPblog since 2023, where he has put his love of racing to good use.
George Russell sees a McLaren that is stronger than Red Bull Racing was in the years when Max Verstappen completely dominated Formula 1. The Mercedes driver even dares to predict at which tracks this season McLaren seems unbeatable. But, the Brit says, for the competition, there are also opportunities in certain places.
Russell is convinced the competition is going to have a tough go at McLaren. "I think it's [MCL39's strength] going to be an advantage in the majority of tracks," Russell says. Still, he sees a small window of hope. "They may struggle when it's cold, to be honest," he says.
"They seem clearly better than everybody else at cooling their tyres and we saw this last year, you know Singapore, very hot, street circuit challenging, they were well ahead of everybody else. Zandvoort as well, another track of overheating."
Russell expects McLaren to know its weaknesses
At other places, McLaren failed to get there. "In Vegas they were nowhere. So I suspect potentially on these outlier circuits they potentially will struggle, but I'm sure they'll have something up their sleeve as well to counter that because I think they're going to be pretty aware of where they may struggle," Russell said.
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This article was written in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen.
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