George Russell expects strong competition from Red Bull at this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix and predicted McLaren will struggle.
Last year’s winner said Mercedes can’t rely on being as competitive again this weekend.
“Obviously last year was a great race for us,” he said. “The car definitely performs very well in these cooler conditions.
“But we’ve also got to be realistic. That success a year ago doesn’t mean you’re going to have success a year later. We won in Singapore this year and we had a terrible race last year in Singapore in 2024.
“So it doesn’t mean it’s going be the same case this weekend. The likes of Red Bull have made big improvements on their low downforce setting as well. They won in Monza, won in Baku, so I expect them to be strong too.”
However Russell doubts McLaren will be as competitive this weekend as they were not as strong at other low-downforce tracks earlier this year. Asked whether the constructors’ champions are likely to compete for victory in Las Vegas, Russell said: “Honestly no, I don’t think so.”
If I took Mercedes out of the equation and I were to try and guess who would win this weekend, I think this would be a circuit where McLaren would struggle more than usual,” he explained. “When you look at their performance in Canada was the only time they weren’t on the podium and their performance in Baku the only time they weren’t on the podium.
“This circuit has some similar characteristics to the two of those tracks when you talk about the coldness, or type of Tarmac, the C5 tyre, and then obviously low downforce – Baku is the same as Las Vegas.
“But there’s always these surprises and I think it’s so close in Q3 now between so many teams, if you can do a magic lap and you can start on pole position, your whole weekend changes. So they’ll be there or thereabouts, but I think you know, Red Bull probably have a better chance.
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2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix
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