Red Bull 'should win every single race this season', bets Mercedes man George Russell

Mercedes driver George Russell proclaimed rivals Red Bull as the world champions of the 2023 season after their dominant display in the opening race of the season in Bahrain on Sunday.

The Austrian team finished 1-2 courtesy of their drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez and finished almost 40 seconds ahead of third-placed Fernando Alonso.

Speaking to PlanetF1, Russell, who finished seventh in the race, mentioned that Red Bull has got the championship covered. He said:

“Red Bull has got this championship sewn up, I don’t think anyone is going to be fighting with them this year. I expect them to win, they should win every single race this season, that’s my bet. I’d say so because with the performance they’ve got, I don’t see anyone challenging them."

“Their pace seems weaker this weekend than it was in testing, which was a bit strange, but they’ve got it easy at the moment, and they can do what they like. They might not get on the pole all of the time because we know that Ferrari are very competitive in qualifying, but when it comes to race pace, I think they’re in a very, very strong position.”

“This is exactly what we were dreaming of" - Red Bull driver Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen, who won his first Bahrain GP in F1 mentioned that the one-two for the team was exactly the result they wanted starting a new season. Speaking to F1.com, he said:

“This is exactly what we were dreaming of and what we wanted to achieve, so yeah, a great day for the whole team. It has been a great start for us, for the whole team, so this is not something we are used to. We are very happy at the moment, but we always keep working."

“I think for me, the first stint was the most important, where I could pull a gap. Once we had the gap, it was just about making sure we could do our stint plan. And that worked out well. I think also, the car was working on every [tire] compound we put on the car, so it looked a bit of course lonely out there. But there were still a lot of things to look at, or fine-tune but overall I’m very happy to win here.”

With the margin they have, it will be interesting to see if any team could challenge Red Bull in 2023.