George Russell and Lewis Hamilton joke that F1 would be "so exciting" if Max Verstappen and Red Bull weren't there

The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell recently joked that F1 would be "more exciting" if Max Verstappen and Red Bull weren't racing in the 2023 season, given that they are simply running away with both the championships.

Verstappen and Red Bull are on their way to completing another double in the championship this season, given the advantage they have over the rest of the grid in terms of performance and points thus far. Max Verstappen on his own is 58 points clear of Mercedes.

During their fan zone interactions, Lewis Hamilton said of Red Bull:

"As We develop everyone else develops so the gap is not so easy to close but to get pole position last week was incredible and I think I was just a tenth of pole once again yesterday. With Max out of the window..."

George Russell sitting beside him replied:

"Formula One would be so exciting if Max and Red Bull won't be here at the moment...We super respect everything that they are doing at the moment and if you're doing a great job then you deserve the victory but the fight for the second-best team at the moment between us McLarens Ferrari and the Astons is pretty exciting."

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Lewis Hamilton and George Russell analyze their qualifying session on Friday

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished P4 and P8 at the end of the qualifying session on Friday.

As per F1.com, Lewis Hamilton said:

"I’m happy with today’s result. It was a hectic session as it was consistently drying up. It was very slippery at the beginning and visibility was a challenge. You know that with every lap you are going to be improving as it dries up, so you need to maximize it."

"That’s why we were waiting at the end of the pitlane each session and the Team did a great job of getting us out there and finding clear track. I kept my head down and focused on maximizing as much as I could."

George Russell added:

"It was a dynamic session. We were a bit off the pace for the entire session and struggled throughout; I’m not sure why. I usually love those transitional conditions between wet and dry, but on every lap we were nowhere. There’s plenty to review and try to understand. We know qualifying isn’t everything around here, but we would of course have liked to be higher up the order."

It will be interesting to see how the Mercedes duo fares at the sprint shootout on Saturday and if they are able to make a better case for themselves in the race.