George Russell recently talked about how the tables have turned in F1 in recent races. He mentioned Red Bull’s downfall and resurgence of other teams, making drivers confused as to how the shift took place.
At the start of the 2024 F1 season, Red Bull continued where they left off in 2023 and started dominating the grid. Max Verstappen won the first few races, with Sergio Perez finishing second.
After a while, Perez’s performance dropped significantly as he was unable to score points in some races. Meanwhile, other drivers started catching up with Verstappen.
Since the Spanish GP on June 23, the defending world champion has not won a single race. Five drivers have clinched the last six race wins, with Lewis Hamilton winning the British and Belgian GP.
In the Italian GP on Sunday, September 1, George Russell had to settle with P7. During an interview with Sky Sports after the race in Monza, he revealed that while speaking to Ferrari drivers in Zandvoort, they discussed Charles Leclerc’s surprise podium finish.
He also mentioned the Monegasque’s race win in the Italian GP, expressing his confusion regarding the massive shift in F1’s top spots.
Furthermore, the Mercedes driver mentioned Red Bull losing a lot of performance recently.
“Not really impressive race, but we were talking to the Ferrari guys Sunday morning in Zandvoort and they were like, a bit lost and don’t really understand how they went to the finish line for a podium there and win here. And Red Bull have lost so much performance, so, I don’t know what on earth is going on in F1 right now,” Russell said.
“I think from the people who have got the performance to the people who don’t have the performance, nobody really understands what’s going on,” he added.
George Russell spoke about how Mercedes’ rival teams have improved and plummeted in recent races.
Speaking to F1.com, he reckoned that the qualifying sessions are extremely tight as of now, and mentioned how McLaren and Ferrari are slightly ahead of his team. He also pointed out Red Bull’s dip in performance, as Max Verstappen finished P6 and Sergio Perez ended up in P8 in Monza.
“I think it is very tight at the moment, especially in qualifying. But, McLaren and Ferrari definitely have the edge on us at the moment and it’s all a bit strange. When you look at Red Bull’s performance, nobody would have predicted that five races ago,” Russell said.
George Russell stands in eighth place in the drivers’ championship table with 128 points. His teammate Lewis Hamilton is in sixth place with 164 points. Despite a dip in performance, Max Verstappen continues to lead the championship with 303 points.
