Russell in defense of today’s F1: “Many positive aspects in the regulations and the new cars”

For and against The new rules of the technical regulations, valid from the next Miami Grand Prix, have generated conflicting opinions among the drivers: Sergio Perez, for example, was decidedly critical of Formula 1, believing that it is difficult to understand by both drivers and engineers, contrary to what was declared by the President of F1 Stefano Domenicali. At the same time, however, there are other riders who have defended the new technical regulations and the recent innovations introduced, starting with George Russell. The winner of the Australian GP has in fact distanced himself from the controversies about the current F1, considering how he is finding himself at ease with the new cars: “We only remember the positive aspects of certain things and, at the moment, we prefer to focus on the negative ones. Yet, there are many positive aspects in these new regulations and in the new cars – he declared in an interview with the BBC – personally, I am feeling very well with the car. The power unit and the engine are definitely different, and it just needs a few small adjustments to being optimized to the max gave me the opportunity to fight more and have very close races.” No F1 ‘Mario Kart’ Moreover, Russell shared the opinions of compatriot Lewis Hamilton, another of the drivers who expressed himself positively about this season’s single-seaters: “Now we’re on a go-kart track, and Lewis made a very perceptive observation: in a go-kart race, if you overtake in a corner, the other driver overtakes you again. And so on. Nobody calls it Mario Kart, or yo-yo racing, or anything like that. We call it pure incredible racing. Anyone who thinks that the drivers go slow in the corners to be faster on the straights is wrong. These are some rather complex details and, frankly, the fans don’t need to take their foot off the accelerator to manage the energy.” The F1 of yesterday and today In conclusion, the Mercedes driver added another element considered positive in current racing, which focuses on a greater number of overtakings compared to the past: “I remember watching Formula 1 twenty years ago and hearing the roar of the engines, it was incredible, but I didn’t see a single overtaking. Probably, that was the purest Formula 1 ever seen. But the race was boring. I think we tend to only remember the positive aspects of certain things. And in the present, we prefer to focus on the negatives. Yet there are many positives in these new regulations and in the new cars. I spoke to a Formula 1 driver from the 80s and 90s, who won many races, and he told me that they had a “boost” button that gave them 300 more horsepower, but at the end of the straight, when they let off the accelerator, they ran out of fuel. This problem has always been present to some extent I always like to highlight the negative aspects and remember the positive things from the past.”