George Russell handed backing but Max Verstappen receives true blessing

Eddie Irvine has backed George Russell to shine this season, but would still choose Max Verstappen all day long if he owned a race team.

Russell underlined his favourite tag for the F1 drivers' title by claiming pole position and victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix over the weekend, spearheading a Mercedes one-two, with team-mate Kimi Antonelli finishing runner-up.

Irvine, who competed in F1 for a decade between 1993 and 2002 with Jordan, Ferrari and Jaguar, winning four grands prix in 1999 en route to finishing second in the championship, likes what he has seen so far from Mercedes and Russell.

"I think Mercedes is looking pretty good, aren't they?" said Irvine, speaking to RacingNews365. "I think it says a lot that both of their drivers are right up there. I think over the season, Russell will definitely beat Antonelli."

Although Irvine sees Mercedes as the early favourites, he made it clear that four-time F1 champion Verstappen would be his clear choice as a driver he would sign if he were running a team.

"If you're owning a team and you want to hire a driver, you have to hire Verstappen," he said. "Is he my favourite driver?

"I don't know about that, but if I'm going to hire someone, I'm going to hire Verstappen because he's the best out there at this moment in time. Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc is also bloody fast, you know."

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F1 not just sport

The race at Melbourne's Albert Park on Sunday marked the start of a new chapter in F1 following one of the biggest rule changes in the sport’s history.

It sparked divisive opinions on the nature of the racing, with some fans appreciating the number of overtakes, but many siding with the majority of the drivers that the racing was too artificial and overly controlled by the energy management required, given the 50-50 power split between combustion and electrical energy.

From his perspective, Irvine would like to see a more straightforward approach to the system

"I would much prefer that they just made it much simpler," he said. "Straight, normally aspirated engines, lots of noise, because I think the customers don't care, and I think, all right, the manufacturers will complain, but Formula 1 is bigger than they are now.

"I like the idea of V whatever engines, get rid of turbos because they cut the noise down a lot and just use renewable fuel."

Some observers worry that the increasing complexity of F1 technology could push fans away from the sport. Irvine, however, is not
concerned, believing the modern version has evolved beyond just racing.

"They're not really Formula 1 fans," he said. "They're the fans of the life, the feeling. Formula 1 is more than just a sport now, it's a feeling."