George Russell will "reassess" a big claim he made about Red Bull when Mercedes brings upgrades at Imola.

The Briton stated that the Milton Keynes-based "should win every race" in 2023 after Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez enjoyed a dominant one-two finish in Bahrain.

And though no team in the history of Formula 1 has ever managed that feat, Red Bull has continued its perfect start with further victories in Jeddah and Australia.

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But while Russell stopped short of going back on his "heat of the moment" prediction, he admits the situation now is a little different.

"I do still think Red Bull is a class ahead of everybody else and for sure, Lewis and I got the most out of it [in Australia]," he said.

"By the sounds of what Max is saying, there was probably still a little bit more in the locker. But normally, they're a second ahead, now, they're three-tenths ahead. That's still a huge amount in the world of F1.

"We're not going to give up, we're going to keep on pushing," he added.

"Right now, we'll have to reassess [the claim] when we bring some upgrades to the car.

"That will be the first time when we truly know if they work as we expect and if we can fight them. But yeah, why not."

That first batch of major upgrades is coming for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in May, with Mercedes likely to change the design direction of the W14 after admitting it went the wrong way over the winter.

“We’re working really hard at the moment with these changes, but I won’t give too much away," Russell commented.

“We’re finding more gains in the past two or three weeks than we found in the whole winter by clearly developing in the wrong window.

“So it’s definitely heading in the right direction.”

Asked whether the upcoming upgrades will bring Mercedes back level with Red Bull, team boss Toto Wolff was coy.

“I don’t want to change the goals yet,” he told Motorsport Italy. “I always want to think that we are here to fight for a world championship, even if it doesn’t seem realistic.

“We are only at the beginning, and I want to keep the team motivated to do the best possible job. There are many innovations in the pipeline, the layout of the car will change at Imola and we will see what this step entails.”