George Russell hopeful final 'Mercedes warriors' can defeat Max Verstappen challenge

George Russell is hopeful the final "Mercedes warriors" working on the 2025 F1 car can defeat the resurgent threat from Red Bull and Max Verstappen in the constructors' championship. 

After a strong weekend in Brazil, Mercedes is cemented into second place in the constructors' standings on 398 points, with Red Bull 32 behind on 366 and Ferrari also in the hunt on 362. 

Given the huge regulation changes coming into force in 2026, most F1 teams have fully switched focus over to the new breed of cars, but there are still three races in '25, with millions of dollars in prize money at stake in the final finishing positions for the '25 championship.

As such, Russell is hopeful the "final warriors" of the Mercedes W16 can get the team over the line, as he also detailed an "obscure" prediction about what racing could be like in 2026.

"I would say for us that we have probably 95% of the team working on 2026, but the team at the race-track, they're sort of like the final warriors who are focused on this year's car," Russell told media, including RacingNews365.

"But in terms of development, everybody is on next year, and even for me, when I drive the simulator, I'm only driving next year's car and focused on that, so there is a lot of emphasis on 2026.

"I think you will see more overtakes next year, but more overtakes in obscure locations, in locations where we've never seen overtakes before.

"If a driver is at the bottom of their battery,  and the one behind has more battery in a given sector of the track, they can suddenly jump past them into a corner where, in the past, where there would never have been an overtake."