George Russell has insisted that Formula 1 'would be so exciting' if Max Verstappen and Red Bull 'weren't here at the moment'.
Verstappen has been in a league of his own this season. The RB19 has proven to be a rocketship on the track this year, but even Sergio Perez cannot keep up with his team-mate, despite claiming early victories at Jeddah and Baku.
And such is Red Bull's dominance in the hands of their two-time world champion, that some have now labelled the sport 'boring' owing to its seeming foregone conclusion ahead of lights out.
Yet Russell, alongside Lewis Hamilton, has suggested that F1 would be far more exciting if Red Bull and Verstappen were no longer in the sport.
F1 would be exciting without Red Bull
“As we develop, everyone else develops so the gap is not so easy to close,” Hamilton said when addressing the crowd at the Belgian fan zone on Saturday.
“But to get a pole position last week [Hungary] was incredible, and I think yesterday [Friday] I was only a tenth off pole… well with Max out of the window.
“I think behind the Red Bulls there is a really great competition between the Astons, the McLarens and us and Ferrari.”
Russell then interjected, saying: “Formula 1 would be so exciting if Max and Red Bull weren’t here at the moment.”
Raucous applause and cheering then broke out as Hamilton, although refusing to comment, grinned from ear to ear at the suggestion.
“I mean we super respect everything they do and if you do a great job you deserve the victory,” Russell continued.
“The fight for second best team at the moment between us, McLaren, Ferrari and Aston is pretty exciting."
Hamilton focused on second place
And Hamilton, bringing matters back to reality, insisted that Mercedes are going to give everything to finish in second place.
“That’s the goal for us," he said. "To make sure we get the team into second place this year. We just have to give absolutely everything.
“I think we can definitely improve in the second phase of the year. We have an upgrade this weekend and a big, big thank you to all the team back at the factory.
"It means so much to them to be second this year especially where we’ve come from.”