Carlin returns to F2 in 2018, with Norris and Sergio Sette Camara as its drivers, after taking a year out.

To aid its bid, the Farnham-based outfit has signed ex-Prema engineer Daniele Rossi, who worked with Antonio Giovinazzi in 2016 and Antonio Fuoco last year, as race engineer to Sette Camara.

Former ART engineer Stuart King – who engineered Sergey Sirotkin in 2016 – steps up to Carlin’s F2 squad after a year working in F3, and will work with Norris, while former DAMS man Nicolas Morel has also been brought on board as a data engineer.

Team boss Trevor Carlin said last year he felt European F3 champion Norris had taken a “risk” by choosing to spearhead his team’s return rather than stepping up to F2 with a more proven outfit.

But Mercedes Formula 1 reserve driver Russell believes the wealth of F2 experience within Carlin’s ranks means Norris is likely to be a threat from the very outset.

“Obviously you’ve got Norris, who will be extremely competitive at Carlin,” Russell told Motorsport.com when asked to name his main opponents for this year’s F2 crown.

“I know Carlin poached an engineer from Prema, the engineer of Giovinazzi and Fuoco [Rossi] is now at Carlin, they’ve also got an ART engineer from two years ago [King].

“They’ve got the information from two of the best teams in the series, so there’s no doubt that being a new team is not going to affect them at all, and Lando is a very good driver.”

While Norris declined to respond when Russell's comments were put to him, Carlin himself said it would be wrong to consider his outfit to be new.

"After taking a one-year sabbatical from GP2/F2, we really don't consider ourselves as a new team to the series," he told Motorsport.com.

"We've employed one new engineer to the team in Daniele Rossi, who returns to Carlin having enjoyed previous success with us, engineering the likes of Sebastian Vettel in World Series [Formula Renault 3.5] and also being part of our GP2 team in previous seasons.

"The team has a great feel about it and is working exceptionally well with our drivers Lando and Sergio."

Markelov, de Vries favourites

As well as Norris, Russell also pinpointed last year’s runner-up Artem Markelov and Prema recruit Nyck de Vries as likely championship contenders.

“Markelov finished second last year and he’s in his fifth year of the championship, and de Vries is in the team that’s completely dominated the last two seasons and he had a fairly competitive season last year,” Russell added. “Those two are going to be right up there.

“Then again you saw drivers like [Nicholas] Latifi last year being competitive, and [Alexander] Albon at times was very quick. There are going to be 10 drivers capable of winning a race this season.”