Ferrari driver Sainz is in agreement, suggesting that Russell knows full well exactly how fast the Mercedes truly is.
“It is typical Mercedes, typical George – hype up the others and then come to the first race and blow the competition away,” Sainz said.
“If it was the first season they did it I would maybe believe them, but they have done it for five, six years now and they keep surprising us in the first race. So as you can imagine I don’t believe much.
“Already in GPS we can also see what they are doing and, yeah… I am not going to say much.”