George Russell thinks McLaren is so far ahead of everyone that it can already switch development fully to 2026 and still win the 2025 Formula 1 titles.
With Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locking out the front row at the Australian Grand Prix and their closest challenger Max Verstappen 0.385 seconds off pole for Red Bull, fourth fastest Russell reckons the championship destiny is already settled.
The Mercedes driver - who was 0.450s from pole - sees little chance of any of McLaren's rivals being able to close the gap to it this year.
Though Red Bull lost an initially-dominant advantage last season, Russell puts that down to its own development missteps.
"They're at such an advantage because they can stop development now and go fully on ‘26 as it's difficult to overcome that gap," said Russell of McLaren.
"Red Bull started the [2024] season off so far ahead of everyone, but I don't think people overtook them in terms of development. They brought some things to the car and went backwards - or had some things - let's say - clarified, and went backwards.
"If you've got a six tenths advantage at the start of the year, nobody finds six tenths throughout the course of a year. So McLaren are in prime position for now and the future."
Russell feels that McLaren's advantage will be even bigger in race pace, as he suggests that the squad has found something "special" in terms of tyre management.
"You've only got to look at their strength in Singapore, their weakness in Vegas, and how good they were in the race pace in Bahrain [testing]," said Russell.
"It's all tyres. If you're strong in sector three [in Australia], that only points to tyres. So they're doing something pretty special, that's for sure."
But while feeling that McLaren is untouchable, Russell feels the fight behind it is much closer – and is a three-way contest between Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari.
"It's kind of as we expected: McLaren out front with a comfortable gap. And then I feel like this season could be anyone's game between ourselves, Red Bull and Ferrari.
"But then you've got surprises like Yuki [Tsunoda], and [Isack] Hadjar's been very competitive this week. The Williams has shown great signs of quali pace, but in terms of the race that's what we're going to see."
