George Russell: McLaren has a comfortable advantage

      George Russell qualified fourth in Melbourne, losing to pole holder Lando Norris by 0.450 seconds. The Mercedes driver suggested that McLaren may now switch to preparing for 2026, as their rivals will not be able to recoup such a gap this season.

      His teammate Kimi Antonelli was eliminated in the first session. The Italian racer said that he had damaged the bottom of the car, which led to a loss of speed.

      George Russell (4th): "McLaren has such an advantage that they can stop refining the car right now and switch completely to 2026, as it will be difficult for others to regain such a gap.

      When you have a six-tenths advantage at the beginning of the year, no one can win it back, so McLaren is in a privileged position now and in the future.

      I can say that the picture is about what we expected: McLaren has a comfortable advantage, and there will be an equal fight between us, Red Bull and Ferrari throughout the season. The surprises are behind us – Yuki Tsunoda and Isaac Hajjar are very competitive this week. Williams has a great pace in qualifying, but let's see what their speed is in the race."

      Kimi Antonelli (16th): "In turn six, I flew into the gravel and seriously damaged the bottom of the car on the curb. I could feel how much the car was sagging on the straights.

      It's a pity that this happened, because without this injury, the qualifying result could have been completely different."