After an embrace in the Chinese GP paddock, George Russell moved to pass on further congratulations to Lewis Hamilton over his Sprint pole. Russell, meanwhile, will line-up P5 in what he feels was an accurate reflection of his pace,

McLaren’s Lando Norris qualified on pole position last weekend in Australia, and the next best car was a whopping 0.385 seconds behind. The best gap Red Bull ever achieved in Australia was 0.236 seconds in 2023, when it secured a F1-record 21 wins from 22 races.

George Russell said Thursday he believes McLaren have a bigger performance advantage than Red Bull enjoyed in 2023 -- a season in which they won all but one race. The Mercedes driver, who was third in the first race of the season in Melbourne a week ago,