George Russell has pinpointed the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix as a “decisive weekend” that has the potential to upset McLaren’s current dominance.
The FIA has sought to crack down on wing flexibility in 2025, with restrictions on rear wings already enforced from the season-opener in Australia, which were tightened further a round later in Shanghai.
Front wing flexibility restrictions, however, won’t be enforced until Round 9 in Spain, and here is where Russell predicts things will change.
That’s because McLaren, the current pacesetters in F1, have taken three wins and as many pole positions are generally considered class leaders in exploiting aero-elasticity, particularly with the front wings.
McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella admitted to Sky Sports F1 before the season began, “There will be a small adjustment required from race nine.”
Speaking to the media ahead of the Saudi Arabian GP, Russell said (via Autosport) front wing flexibility is, “obviously where McLaren have excelled, so until that race I don’t really see the pecking order shifting.
“That will be a decisive weekend to see whether they take a step backwards and the pack closes up,” he added.
Until then, Russell, who has starred so far this campaign as one of McLaren’s troublemakers, scoring three podiums, hopes to keep himself in the mix through Round 9.
“We are finding ourselves in a position that we’re 40 points behind McLaren in the championship through probably mistakes of theirs, as opposed to pure car performance,” he said.
“And you could argue that that car was capable of finishing one-two in every race so far this year. And so far, Max [Verstappen] has won a race, we’ve had a P2 and we’re sort of in that fight.
“But I can’t imagine these little mistakes are going to continue for 24 races.”
Russell hails ‘huge result’ in Bahrain
The mistakes that Russell points out can be attributed to Lando Norris’ form in Bahrain, where a qualifying misjudgement saw him sit sixth on the grid.
Norris’ charge through the pack in Bahrain came to a halt behind Russell, who was able to split the McLaren pair as Oscar Piastri enjoyed a comfortable victory.
It’s a result that Russell takes great pride in, but once again, he thinks McLaren is the team to beat in Jeddah.
“We all knew that McLaren was going to take a huge step forward and they clearly showed how competitive they were,” he said.
“Oscar just drove away into the distance. So, for me and for us to be ahead of a McLaren was a huge result.
“But I still think it’s very close between ourselves, Ferrari and Red Bull.
“You saw Ferrari’s middle stint was exceptionally fast and probably if they avoided the hard tyre it would’ve been close with myself and Charles.
“Red Bull obviously had an off weekend, but I think they’ll be back to normal this weekend.”
Those remarks, uttered on Thursday, were followed by Norris and Piastri finishing first and second in FP2 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen best of the rest in third.
Russell, meanwhile, has pace to find on Saturday after enduring a seven-tenths pace deficit.
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