Sawt Falasteen - Mercedes' Russell not fazed by being tipped as pre-season favourite

Mercedes caught the eye in pre-season testing at Bahrain with a heavy lap load and fast times, along with impressive speed and reliability.

Consensus in the paddock, and with bookmakers, is that they, and Russell, are the frontrunners this season.

"It doesn't change anything. I think there's a lot of chat around us and Mercedes. And take it as a compliment, I guess," said Russell ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

"You know, once the helmet's on you're just flat out and you don't really think about any of this additional noise. So just taking it race by race and see how we go.

"No matter how this weekend goes, it is a 24-race season, it is very demanding on everybody," he added.

"And a lot can change between now and (the last race in) Abu Dhabi."

Under the leadership of Toto Wolff, Mercedes won eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles between 2014 and 2021.

Since Russell joined in 2022 they have struggled to keep pace with Red Bull and McLaren.

However, a major upheaval of the sport's technical rulebook for the new season means a fresh start for all the teams on the grid.

The 28-year-old Russell, who finished fourth in the world championship last season, said there was "an element of the unknown" going into the Melbourne race with the radical changes to engines and chassis.

But he said pre-season had been much better than recent years.

"There's no items on the car that have been of major worry to us. Everything's working as expected," he said.

But he also cautioned that there were always "a lot of hurdles" in the first race of the year, particularly with the new rules which place greater emphasis on energy management.

"I think you can get tripped up by any small error. So there's no time to relax during a race, during qualifying, pit stops, things that once were quite straightforward," he said.

"Parts of racing are now very complicated. However, to this point now, I think we've done the most preparation possible. We feel in a good place."

N.Shalabi--SF-PST