George Russell says Red Bull deployment edge has ‘closed drastically’

George Russell believes that, while Red Bull still holds an advantage in terms of battery deployment, “the gap has closed drastically” from Mercedes-powered cars.

Russell had previously said Red Bull’s advantage appeared “pretty scary”, and team principal Toto Wolff estimated Red Bull had up to a full second’s worth of lap time in that area, but now believes Mercedes has managed to bridge a significant portion of the gap.

George Russell: Mercedes to Red Bull deployment gap ‘has closed drastically’

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PlanetF1.com understands paddock suggestions have widely placed Mercedes as pre-season favourites after testing concluded in Bahrain, with the Silver Arrows and Ferrari being the two teams to beat early on.

Red Bull, meanwhile, appears to be similar in pace to McLaren in the chasing pack, with those four teams estimated to hold a breakaway in pace compared to the rest of the field.

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies acknowledged as much, believing Mercedes and Ferrari to be slightly ahead of the Milton Keynes-based squad at this stage of the season.

On the subject of battery deployment, however, Russell still believes the Red Bull Powertrains engine to be the current benchmark in the field.

However, with pre-season now complete, the Briton explained that enough testing has taken place for Mercedes to be able to catch up.

“Their deployment definitely still looks the best on the grid, which is kudos to them,” Russell said of Red Bull to PlanetF1.com and other outlets in Bahrain.

“I think it was a bit of a surprise to everybody, so let’s see come Melbourne how things shake up.

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“I think the Mercedes-powered teams have made a lot of improvements since day one of Bahrain last week, so that gap has closed drastically.

“But we’re obviously [on] day six of Bahrain testing now, whereas in Melbourne, you’ve got three hours of practice, and that’s the main point of concern.”

Energy deployment will be a significant topic of conversation when the season gets underway, with drivers needing to deploy and regenerate energy over the course of a lap to maximise lap time.

While racing should be easier from an aerodynamic point of view, Russell believes deployment will play its part at every race – but more so at circuits with long straights, one of which being the season opener in Melbourne.

Asked if following another driver is easier in this new regulatory era, the Mercedes driver replied: “You definitely can, because there’s less aero on the cars, so there’s less disturbance.

“I think the big difference this year compared to the previous era is the variability in energy deployment between cars and drivers, depending on driving styles, will probably far outweigh the aero turbulence.

“So, I think we will see different racing, and I think tracks like Melbourne and Jeddah, where there are numerous long straights, I think the racing could be quite intriguing.”

Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher

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