Russell receives rare accolade as McLaren dealt warning

George Russell has received rare praise from Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, who believes his outfit are not "far away" from McLaren.  Russell has made an excellent start to the 2025 F1 season, finishing in third in both the Australian and Chinese Grand Prix.  The Briton was McLaren's biggest threat at the Shanghai International Circuit and had overtaken Lando Norris at one stage in the race.  Whilst he was unable to finish ahead of Norris and slipped back to third in China, Wolff rated Russell's performance a "10 out of 10".  He has been very consistent across the opening rounds and has looked comfortable in Mercedes' W16, with progress having clearly been made by the Silver Arrows.  Wolff is optimistic about the team's future based on the opening rounds; however, the Austrian recognises that McLaren remain the outfit to beat.  "I wouldn't say yet we are in the hunt now," Wolff told select media including RacingNews365 . "When you look at Piastri suddenly being at the front it's a little bit easier on the tyres and you can manage it.  "But we're not far away. Maybe the gap is now a couple of tenths rather than a second that it was in Melbourne. [We were] clearly the second fastest team [in China], and that's another solid result that was brought in.  "George's driving was a 10 out of 10, and I rarely give 10 out of 10, but he just extracted the maximum that was there. So far, I think there's reasons to be excited of what the future brings."