George Russell says Mercedes could "take their rear wing off" and Red Bull would still be quicker on the straights, as the team search for answers on their superior straight line pace. Mercedes have been one of the teams at the bottom of the speed traps around the Baku City Circuit, with Russell 18th in the speed trap at just 319kph compared to Max Verstappen who reaches 324kph. In Saudi Arabia this was a similar story, with Verstappen visibly faster than Lewis Hamilton when he overtook him coming back through the field. Russell says Mercedes could try extreme measures, such as taking their rear wing off altogether, and Red Bull would still be faster than them. "We know what the speed differences [are]. We believe we can take the the rear wing fully off and Red Bull would still be quicker than us on the straights and that's not even a joke," he told media, including RacingNews365.com .
Russell: Red Bull doing something 'trick' with DRS
When the Sprint race restarted after the Safety Car, Max Verstappen was able to easily cruise past Russell after the pair made contact on the opening lap. Russell believes Red Bull are "doing something trick" with their rear wing and DRS mechanism, which is where they gain a lot of time with their superior straight line speed. "So we don't understand what they're doing, they're clearly doing something incredible, something very, very trick," Russell commented. "Kudos to them for whatever they've done to achieve this straight line performance. "But especially with the DRS, we believe we can take the real wing fully off and they'd still be quicker than us."
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