George Russell makes 'ace' Mercedes request to combat Red Bull power

George Russell is hoping Mercedes has "a big ace" up its sleeve that it can soon play in its early F1 games with rivals Red Bull.

Over the past three days of the first pre-season test in Bahrain, no team wanted to claim ownership of either the best or fastest car, with fingers pointed elsewhere.

Max Verstappen was left in no doubt that once Mercedes takes to Melbourne's Albert Park for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, it will be uncatchable on the 'straights'.

Many, however, believe Red Bull has the best power unit at present, especially in energy deployment, with Russell among those who share that view. 

Explained to Russell that Verstappen believes Mercedes has an ace up its sleeve concerning its engine, the British driver said: "I hope we've got a big ace up our sleeve.

"Of course, during testing, no one's running their maximum performance, and you're still learning.

"But you know, the truth is, they [Red Bull] have hit the ground running far better than every other team, and when we compare ourselves, not only to Red Bull, but also Ferrari, they look in a good place.

"I think we've delivered a very strong car this year. But of course, all of the chat around our competitiveness for this season was based on the power unit side, and there will be big development.

"But right now, Red Bull is the team to beat in that area."

Russell predicts 'massive progress'

For now, after finishing second-quickest to team-mate Kimi Antonelli at the end of the three days, with the duo the only two drivers to lap in the 1:33s, Russell's opinion of the new-look F1 was opposite to that of Verstappen.

The four-time F1 champion slated the sport on Thursday, describing the cars as "not Formula 1', "anti-racing", and "Formula E on steroids", tentatively indicating they could be the straw that breaks the camel's back when it comes to his future.

Russell is convinced F1 has made "a step forward", though, adding: "I always have to give things a chance.

"We're days into a set of regulations that are going to be over three years long, and the progress everyone's going to make in these early months is going to be massive.

"I think the cars are way nicer to drive. I've only ever driven the smaller generation of F1 cars twice, and I couldn't believe the difference in how much more agile the car feels, being lighter and smaller, so that's very positive."

Appreciating one of the difficult aspects, he added: "The engines are very complicated and, to be honest, probably causing more of a pain for all of the engineers than it is for the drivers.

"However, these two tracks, Barcelona and Bahrain, are arguably two of the easier circuits for the engine, so I don't want to say anything too early before we get to the likes of Melbourne or Jeddah, where it will be much more challenging for the engines and the energy once we get there."