Russell the terrier won’t relent on claims

GEORGE RUSSELL has doubled down on suggestions that Red Bull are hiding their true performance after Max Verstappen won the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Mercedes driver wonders if their rivals are going at full power, despite Christian Horner previously rubbishing the claims.

Russell also stressed Red Bull’s dominance is “a shame for the sport” after the team maintained their 100 percent win record in 2023.

According to F1-Insider, he said: “They are so far away from all of us. I always wonder if they drive at full power or have something else up their sleeves?

“It’s a shame for the sport, although you have to congratulate them on doing such a good job.”

Fourth-placed Russell ended 33 seconds adrift of Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez, who was second.

The Briton first raised suspicions that Red Bull were sandbagging at the Australian Grand Prix. He said in Melbourne: “They are holding back.

“They are almost embarrassed to show their full potential because the faster they seem the more the sport is going to try and hold them back somehow.”

But Red Bull team principal Horner said: “That’s very generous of him. I mean, his team would know all too well about those kinds of advantages.

“There’s always an element of managing that goes on. You could see because it was a very early one-stop race, there was an element of tyre management going on.

“Checo [Perez] was not hanging about. He was not cruising round holding back 7/10ths a lap because he did not want to show it.”

The 25-year-old Russell is sixth in the overall standings, trailing team-mate and seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton, who is fourth, by 16 points. RUSSELL: ‘Red Bull are hiding true level’