George Russell believes Red Bull is “holding back” the true performance of its 2023 Formula 1 car at the fear of being pegged back by rule changes.
Max Verstappen continued Red Bull’s 100% winning start to the season at the Australian Grand Prix after battling back from a poor first lap that saw him drop behind both Mercedes drivers.
Russell held the lead in the early laps until a mistimed pitstop under safety car conditions that turned into a red flag dropped him down the order, leaving team-mate Lewis Hamilton out in front.
But Hamilton was unable to hold off Verstappen following the race restart as he flew past the seven-time world champion with the use of DRS before pulling out a gap.
Verstappen’s immediate pace in clear air was startling as he pulled 1.6s clear on the next lap before managing his advantage over Hamilton.
This turn of pace by Verstappen has led Russell, who retired on Lap 17 with an engine failure, to believe Red Bull is “almost embarrassed” to unleash the full potential of the RB19.
“For sure they’re holding back,” Russell told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“They’re almost embarrassed to show their full potential because the faster they seem globally the more the sport is going to try to hold them back somehow.
“Realistically, they probably have seven tenths’ advantage over the rest of the field.
“I don’t know what the pace difference looks like at the moment but Max has got no reason to be pushing and nor has Red Bull.
“They have done a really great job, we can’t take that away and we clearly have to up our game.”
Suggestions that Red Bull is hiding its real pace comes after then team caused a stir in Saudi Arabia with its straightline speed advantage in a glimpse of how fast its 2023 car really is.
Although Red Bull countered Russell’s claims, in the two laps after passing Hamilton, Verstappen was 0.5s and 0.75s quicker, leaving him in a luxury position of being able to control the gap to the chasing pack.
Red Bull had previously managed its pace at the season opener in Bahrain over concerns of reliability, but team boss Christian Horner quickly refuted Russell’s query that it was sandbagging.
“That’s very generous of him. He’d know too well from his team about those kinds of advantages,” Horner said, as quoted by The Race.
“There’s always an element of management that goes on in any race. Because it was a one-stop race and a very early one-stop race, of course there was an element of tyre management going on.”
Horner used Sergio Perez’s recovery drive through the field – having starting from the pitlane after a crash in qualifying – as a case in point that Red Bull did not have as big an advantage as its rivals are making out.
“Checo wasn’t hanging about and he wasn’t holding back seven tenths a lap just because he didn’t want to show it,” said Horner.
