The jury is out as to whether Mercedes really narrowed the gap to Red Bull’s dominance in Melbourne. “The Red Bulls are still in a league of their own,” he added. But George Russell, who even led for a time in Melbourne before his fiery retirement, thinks Red Bull was carefully managing its pace last weekend. Russell thinks Red Bull is still “probably seven tenths” per second ahead of any other rival in 2023. “Max has no reason to force it, and neither does Red Bull,” said the Briton. “We’re always said to have a dominance that only exists when everything is running smoothly,” said the top Red Bull official. “The pace was there, and so was the consistency,” said the Frenchman.

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