George Russell admits Max Verstappen is the favourite to win the Bahrain Grand Prix

George Russell conceded that Max Verstappen is favourite to win the opening Bahrain Grand Prix a week tomorrow, but believes Mercedes can push themselves into the title fight.

The evidence of the timing screens across two days of pre-season testing suggested Red Bull are firing on all cylinders, with double world champion Verstappen the leading man.

Russell, on the other hand, suffered a hydraulic failure that curtailed his running after 26 laps.

The Briton offered a balanced appraisal of progress – the Mercedes is not porpoising – when he said: ‘I definitely head into the season believing I can win the championship. 

‘At every point of my career I have gone in believing I can do that, but you take a rational view once you get to the track.

George Russell conceded that Max Verstappen is favourite to win the opening Bahrain Grand Prix a week tomorrow

Double world champion Verstappen has been the leading man throughout the pre-season testing

‘We definitely believe we will eventually have a car capable of getting into that fight. Having that next weekend might be a stretch. 

‘Red Bull are looking very stable, and obviously Max is performing really well. But we have always seen the strength of Mercedes’ development rate.’

Russell took over driving duties after Lewis Hamilton knocked out 72 uncomplicated laps in the morning.

There were mutterings of concern about McLaren’s pace. Team principal Zak Brown admitted: ‘We set some goals for development that we didn’t hit. And we thought it was better to be honest about that. 

‘We have a lot of development coming so we are encouraged by what we see around the corner. But we will be going into the first race off of our projected targets and it is hard to know where we will be on the grid.’