George Russell Takes Playful Dig At Red Bull Over Key F1 Battle

Originally posted on F1 on SI | By Ewan Gale | Last updated Sep 22, 2025 12:44 PM ET

George Russell took a cheeky dig at Red Bull after Max Verstappen's dominant victory in Formula 1's Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Four-time world champion Verstappen took his second race win in a row having won by the largest margin of the season at the Italian Grand Prix, before leading from the front for a Grand Chelem at the Baku City Circuit by taking pole position, the fastest lap and winning by being in the lead for every lap.

It proved that Red Bull's Monza performance was no fluke and that the team's more engineering-focused approach under new team principal Laurent Mekies.

Russell pokes fun at Verstappen

Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Russell finished second for Mercedes to put behind him a recent run of struggles for the German manufacturer, even if results of fourth and fifth in the Netherlands and Italy don't tell the whole story.

With Ferrari faltering in Baku, Russell and teammate Kimi Antonelli jumped Mercedes ahead of the Scuderia in the race for second in the constructors' standings to now hold a lead of four points.

Asked during the FIA's post-race press conference how he saw the battle panning out over the final seven rounds, Russell instead took aim at Red Bull, a team which has seen 255 of its 272 points scored by Max Verstappen.

"Well, I think right now with the current form, there’s as much chance of Max finishing ahead of us as there is Ferrari, to be honest," joked Russell.

Verstappen interrupted to correct Russell by saying "Red Bull" but Russell continued: "Yeah, team Verstappen!

Returning focus to Ferrari, Russell explained: "It just swings so quickly. Ferrari were looking amazingly strong on Friday here, and they’ve always been great here.

"Charles has been on pole four times here, and they could have easily been one-two on the grid. And with how difficult overtaking is, they probably would have finished one-two as well. But, obviously, they had a bad qualifying, and they came away with single-figure points, and we were the ones coming away with 30 points, so nobody knows."

Russell on the up after illness

Russell was taking part in his first media duties of the weekend having been rested around on-track sessions to help recover from a respiratory infection.

"Fortunately, it was Baku," he conceded. "Even though it’s one of the toughest circuits, mentally and physically it’s maybe one of the easiest.

"Friday and Saturday, I was really rough. Had it been Singapore, as an example, I think I probably would have called it a day on Friday, to be honest, and probably wouldn’t have done the race.

"So sort of fortunate timing. I haven’t been ill for a couple of years, actually, so it just all sort of hit me at once, but I’m on the up now."

This article first appeared on F1 on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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