George Russell makes bold claim about Max Verstappen

Mercedes’ driver George Russell said the new generation of F1 cars has changed the balance of power between teammates on the grid, referring to Max Verstappen’s improved rivals at Red Bull.

Russell, who is second in the drivers’ championship, 81 points behind teammate Kimi Antonelli, said this season has been strange in terms of competitiveness between teammates.

"It's been a strange season when you look at the competitiveness of [Oscar] Piastri against Lando [Norris] last year, Charles [Leclerc] compared to Lewis [Hamilton], and even the dominance of Max against all of his team-mates in the previous era," said Russell.

George also talked about his own struggles against Antonelli and said Verstappen’s teammates are closer to him than anybody in the past six years.

"This year, myself, Charles and Oscar are struggling much more compared to our team-mates," said Russell.

"And Max, his teammates been substantially closer to him than anybody has in the past six years"

Verstappen has two teammates this year, similar to last season: Isack Hadjar for the first 1 Grand Prix, and Liam Lawson for the last three following the French driver’s wrist injury during the summer break whilst boxing training.

Max currently sits sixth in the drivers’ championship with 145 points, with Hadjar seventh on 71 points and Lawson ninth on 59 points.

Russell believes the change comes down to similar driving styles among the current crop of frontrunners.

"We've all got pretty similar driving styles, and the drivers are performing very well this year," he remarked.

"Kimi, Lewis, and Lando have also got quite similar driving styles. So to me, it's pretty clear with this car, with these tyres, what I need to achieve.

"The trends are there, with, as I said, those drivers I just mentioned."