George Russell fires cheeky shot at Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the fanzone

Mercedes F1 driver George Russell fired a dig at rivals Red Bull and their driver Max Verstappen in the fanzone at the Belgian Grand Prix.

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were on stage in the fanzone ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday, taking part in a Q&A session in front of some eager Formula One fans.

The Mercedes team-mates were speaking about the development of other Formula One teams this season, which started with Hamilton talking about how close he was to securing pole position in qualifying on Friday afternoon.

"To get a pole position last week was incredible, I think yesterday I was only a tenth of pole, actually, well, with Max (Verstappen) out of the window."

Hamilton laughed with the crowd, then continued: "But I think behind the Red Bulls, there's a really great competition between the Astons, the McLarens, and us, and Ferraris"

Though Russell then interrupted Hamilton to get a slight dig in towards their Red Bull rivals: "Formula One would be so exciting if Max and Red Bull weren't here."

Thr crowd cheered in agreement following the comment, though Russell was quick to show respect for the team.

"No, I mean we super respect everything they're doing, and if you do a great job, you need to be deserving of the victory but, the fight for the second best team at the moment between us, McLaren, Ferrari and Aston is pretty exciting."

Hamilton echoed their goal to be the second best team in F1: "That's the goal for us, to make sure we get the team in second place this year and we've just got to give absolutely everything, I think we're definitely going to improve in the second phase of the year, we had an upgrade this weekend, just a big thank you to all the team back in the factory, it means so much for them to be second this year, especially with where we've come from."

Mercedes currently sit in second place of the Constructor standings, 39 points clear of third placed Aston Martin but 229 points behind leaders Red Bull.

Hamilton and Russell have the opportunity to increase their lead over Aston Martin at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon, as they secured third and eighth position on the starting grid respectfully.

Verstappen starts in sixth due to a gearbox change in qualifying, incurring a five place penalty, knocking him down from pole position.