George Russell takes a subtle dig at the less consistent McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

George Russell took a subtle dig at the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, as he pointed out how close he and Max Verstappen were to the top 2 in the championship. The race in Canada saw Russell have a Mercedes that was capable of fighting for the win, and the driver executed it brilliantly.

Russell beat Verstappen to pole on Saturday, and once he got the jump on the Red Bull driver at the start of the race, it was all about managing things from that point onwards. By the end of the race, Russell kept everything under control and picked up his first win of the season.

As a result, the driver continues to be fourth in the championship with 136 points to his name. He is only 19 points behind Max Verstappen, but a surprise to the Mercedes driver was that George Russell was only 62 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri. The fact that McLaren has more or less had the fastest car on the grid on most of the circuits, the gap does come as a surprise.

Talking about the gap, Russell felt that this was entirely down to the fact that both he and Max Verstappen had been consistent in terms of getting the results every race weekend and maximizing things every time. In the FIA press conference, the Brit said:

"I mean, to be honest, I don't really know how Max and I are so close to those two because they clearly have the most dominant car. I think the two of us have been very consistent and getting the maximum result from our packages week in, week out. But I can't imagine them continuing to throw away points in the manner they're doing."

George Russell shares a pessimistic outlook on the championship battle

George Russell shared a pessimistic outlook on the potential championship battle where he could be a factor, as he said that the McLaren was just too quick. While the gap was in the 60s at the moment, it would only increase because Mercedes cannot sustain this level of performance at every track. He said:

"Of course, we hope that continues to be the case, but I don't foresee us getting in the championship fight through pure pace as Lando did last year. We'll only be there if results like [Canada] continue or things like [Canada] continue to happen."

The Mercedes driver, however, is surprisingly without a contract for 2026. His contract with the German team comes to an end in 2025, and to the surprise of many, there has been no extension signed for now.

It is more or less a formality in the eyes of many that the contract would eventually be signed, but if it isn't, there are a few teams like Aston Martin that have already shown interest in the Brit should he look for a potential move outside of Mercedes.