Verstappen has been simply untouchable in 2023, taking 13 wins from a possible 16 ahead of the Qatar GP weekend to line up his third World Championship in record-breaking style.
Unfortunately for Russell, Mercedes have rarely been in the fight this year. The 25-year-old driver notched his first win in Brazil last year but has been unable to challenge Verstappen at the front so far this season.
Despite this, Russell still believes that his team can take the fight to Red Bull in 2024. They’ll be better placed to do so after scrapping the ‘zeropod’ design philosophy ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix earlier this year.
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Speaking to Sky Sports F1 about Verstappen and Red Bull after the sprint race in Qatar, Russell said: “Yeah I mean huge congratulations to him and Red Bull.
“They’ve obviously… from the outset Red Bull were far superior to everybody else and then Max has obviously just been on another level recently.
“So [I] can only congratulate him. We’ve got to look at ourselves in the mirror and raise our game to give them some trouble next year because, you know, nobody likes to see that dominance and we want to be there in the fight and putting them under a bit of pressure.”
If Mercedes are to take the fight to Red Bull and Verstappen they will need to make major strides forward over the winter. With the World Championship in his hands heading into this weekend, the Dutchman showed no signs of easing off.
Discussing his latest honours, Verstappen said: “It’s a fantastic feeling. [It’s] been an incredible year. Lots of great races, super proud of the job from the team. It’s been so enjoyable to be part of that group of people.
“To be a three-time world champion is just incredible. We will keep on pushing, doing the best we can. Today was quite an exciting race, a bit of a shame with the Safety Cars, but overall it was fun out there. Just incredibly happy at the moment.”
