Rival drivers such as Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen had repeatedly warned Mercedes were 'sandbagging' in the build up to Melbourne's season opener, and with Russell's Q3 lap of 1:18.518 coming in at over eight tenths faster than the next non-Mercedes (Isack Hadjar), accusations will hardly die down now.

Russell, however, has rejected the idea that Mercedes were hiding anything, instead focusing on the fact Max Verstappen failed to set a representative time to rival them on Saturday.

In the post-qualifying press conference, Russell said: "Well, I think it wasn’t a case of sandbagging.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff also had his say on the 'sandbagging' accusations.

Wolff said on Sky Sports: “Everybody will say that we were sandbagging or there was much more in the pocket. You can’t really sandbag, or at least, we can’t do that, because you never know where the car is.

Mercedes' dominant one-two in qualifying was under scrutiny for other reasons after Antonelli was released onto the track with cooling components still attached to his W17.

The FIA have since revealed their investigation's findings.