Russell makes stunning McLaren claim

George Russell has claimed McLaren can already afford to switch focus to F1's all-new 2026 regulations given their dominance in Australian Grand Prix qualifying. 

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out the front row at Albert Park, with Norris 0.485s clear of third-place Max Verstappen with Russell a further 0.065s slower than the Red Bull in fourth. 

Usual in-season development is a major risk for F1 teams in 2025 owing to the radical changes being made to the cars for 2026, with active aerodynamics set to be introduced.

Any time spent developing the 2025 car will be taken away from that for 2026, with the cut-off point a major topic of debate in the paddock. 

Such was McLaren's dominance, through practice and qualifying - it only failed to top FP2 which Charles Leclerc did - Russell claimed the Woking sqaud could already turn off 2025 development.

"It is as we expected with McLaren out in front, but I feel like this season can be anyone's game between ourselves, Red Bull and Ferrari, but then you've got surprises like [Yuki] Tsunoda and [Isack] Hadjar who have been really competitive," Russell told media including RacingNews365.

"We've seen how strong they are, it seems natural.

"They have such an advantage, they can stop development now and go fully onto 2026, it is difficult to overcome that gap.

"Red Bull started last season so far ahead of everyone, but I don't think people overtook them in terms of development, they brought some things to the car that went backwards. 

"If you've got a six-tenths advantage at the start of a year, nobody is going to find six-tenths throughout the course of the year, so McLaren is in prime position for now and the future."

As for his own qualifying, Russell felt Mercedes had hit the "reality" of what was possible, as he prepares to share the second row with Max Verstappen.