George Russell goes into the new F1 season as one of the hot favourites to win the title

George Russell expressed satisfaction with Mercedes’ opening day at the Barcelona pre-season test, whilst acknowledging the strong showing from several competitors.

The British driver completed 95 laps during the afternoon session on Monday, following teammate Kimi Antonelli’s morning stint, with the team accumulating more than 700 kilometres of running.

“We are pleased with our day, but I’ve also been impressed by several other teams too,” Russell remarked after climbing out of the W17.

The Mercedes man described the experience as “exciting” and noted that returning to the cockpit felt rewarding after the winter break.

George Russell had plenty of praise for Mercedes rivals Red Bull and Ferrari

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Seven teams participated in Monday’s closed-door running at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Russell reserved particular praise for Red Bull’s debut power unit, which the team has developed in-house for the first time.

The four-time constructors’ champions completed substantial mileage with Isack Hadjar at the wheel, impressing the Mercedes driver with their reliability.

“The Red Bull power unit has completed a lot of laps which, given that it’s their first engine they’ve built, means they’ve clearly done a good job,” Russell stated.

The 26-year-old also highlighted Red Bull’s pace advantage on the straights, observing that their speed traces showed them “considerably ahead” of both Ferrari and Mercedes.

Isack Hadjar was at the wheel for Red Bull during the first F1 testing session, and was the fastest driver on the track which will please Max Verstappen, who will drive the RB22

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“They’ve got really good straight-line speed at the moment,” he added. “The car looks very together in that sense.”

Russell also commended the Ferrari power unit’s performance, which propelled Haas to an impressive tally during Monday’s running.

“Haas also managed a similar amount of running to ourselves, so the Ferrari power unit has also put together plenty of mileage,” the Mercedes driver noted.

The American outfit reportedly completed more laps than any other team on the opening day, demonstrating the Italian manufacturer’s engine reliability under the new regulations.

This season marks a significant shift in power unit design, with half of the output now derived from the hybrid system’s electrical component, making energy deployment crucial to competitive performance in the 2026 campaign.

Mercedes are one of the favourites to benefit the most from the new rules in power unit design

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Russell was quick to dismiss any parallels with the 2014 season, when Mercedes dominated following the introduction of turbo-hybrid engines and rivals suffered widespread reliability problems.

“It’s not quite how it was in 2014! The sport has evolved so much since then and the level, in every single aspect, is so high now,” he explained.

The Mercedes driver emphasised that Monday’s running demonstrated the progress made across the entire grid, with teams avoiding the breakdown-plagued sessions that characterised the previous regulatory overhaul

Russell described the overall standard as “pretty impressive”, noting that most competitors managed substantial lap counts despite grappling with entirely new machinery.