George Russell gives unexciting outlook for Mercedes' chances of a win this season

George Russell does not think it is realistic for Mercedes to beat Red Bull in races this season. However, he believes taking on Ferrari might be possible.

Mercedes had a strong weekend in Mexico. The team was able to challenge Red Bull and Max Verstappen until the second stint in the race, where the tire strategy helped the Dutchman pull away and win comfortably.

According to Russell, Mercedes had the best car in Mexico, and if the strategy was the right one, a win would've been on the table. He told Sky Sports:

"We've shown between these two race weekends [in the United States and Mexico], there was quite a fluctuation in performance. I feel like we probably had the fastest car this weekend [in Mexico] and, had we been on the same strategy as Red Bull, we probably could have fought with them.

"Probably Brazil will be halfway between the two [levels of performance]. Realistically, it's going to probably be quite difficult to finish ahead of Red Bull at any races this year. But Ferrari, I think we definitely can beat."

Even team principal Toto Wolff is cautiously optimistic about challenging Ferrari. He said:

"Be careful [not] to jump to quick assumptions; they [Ferrari] clearly weren't fast this weekend, but it was also – on our simulations – our best weekend. Let's see what happens in Brazil. Finishing second would be great for all our people, and a win would still be fantastic. Also [it] would demonstrate that the car is fast."

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George Russell excited about the prospect of Mercedes teammate extending his contract

Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he's looking to finalize an extension with Mercedes. This would mean that George Russell will have the seven-time champion as his teammate for a longer time.

Speaking to RacingNews365.com, Russell admitted that he was excited at the prospect of having Hamilton as a teammate for a longer duration. He said;

"It's really exciting to have that potential of Lewis staying on for a number of years to come. I think he has proven that he's definitely not lifted his foot off the throttle pedal, and he's definitely [in] the last few races performing probably better than ever."

He added:

"It's really exciting for me to have the opportunity to be his teammate, to go directly head-to-head with him and grow on this journey that we're on together because it really does feel like a journey that the two of us are on, along with the rest of the team, in trying to bring Mercedes back to winning ways.

"So I think we've got a really, really great, transparent relationship and it would be great to be teammates for a number of years to come."

Mercedes will be hoping to snatch at least one win this season as the team has remained winless for the first time in the Turbo-Hybrid era.