F1 leader George Russell admits talk about championship 'means nothing at this point'

[p]The Briton began the campaign as favourite to win a maiden world championship and showed why as he led home a Mercedes one-two with teammate [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/antonelli-andrea-kimi/ptGu0mT1/"]Kimi Antonelli[/a] in Sunday's season-opener.[/p][p]The Australian Grand Prix heralded a new era for the sport with numerous rule changes, including a 50-50 split between conventional and electrical power.[/p][p]Rivals had pinpointed Mercedes as the team to beat in the build-up to the season, but [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/russell-george/xxF56RaN/"]Russell[/a] was eager not to sound too triumphant going into the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend.[/p][p][b]"It feels no different to any other day, to be honest, here in China,"[/b] the 28-year-old said in Shanghai.[/p][p]"Preparing as usual, going about my business as usual.[/p][p][b]"I'm most happy about the fact that the car is quick and reacting as we think.[/b][/p][p]"There's still room to improve and that's what I'm most pleased about.[/p][p][b]"A championship means nothing at this point."[/b][/p][embed guid="8699b879-8af4-4719-a1ce-2e9d20966e8f" url="https://x.com/F1/status/2031427615098093797" social-type="twitter" /][p]Ferrari were the closest challengers to Mercedes in Melbourne, with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/leclerc-charles/KlCOSRub/"]Charles Leclerc[/a] third and seven-time world champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hamilton-lewis/tI5Vpe1h/"]Lewis Hamilton[/a] fourth.[/p][p]Russell believes the season will be "quite a close fight between ourselves and Ferrari", a view he said was shared by fellow Briton Hamilton.[/p][p]The pair, former teammates at Mercedes, shared a flight to Shanghai together.[/p][p]Russell warned it was not only Ferrari who posed a threat, even if they are shaping up as the prime challengers ahead of Red Bull and McLaren.[/p][p][b]"My view is a lot of teams didn't optimise qualifying. I think we did a really great job of qualifying,"[/b] he said, having started the Albert Park race from pole.[/p][p]"But I think Sunday showed the true pace. And, you know, when you look at Ferrari... they were basically doing the same lap times as us."[/p]