George Russell says the peculiar nature of racing under Formula 1’s new rules is partly a consequence of his approach to them.
As F1 drivers must lift-and-coast to varying degrees in order to top up the batteries in their new power units, battles for position are heavily influenced by where each driver chooses to slow down. This has led to drivers repeatedly swapping places during prolonged battles for position.
Russell has been involved in battles for the lead at the start of both races so far. He believes his conservative approach explains why both fights featured so many exchanges of position.
“I’ve got to be honest, I think both times it’s been me,” he said. “I’ve been pretty cautious.
“I was very cautious in Melbourne because [it was the] first race of the season with a brand new car, brand new tyres, brand new engine and I don’t think anybody knew what to expect [although] you do all of these simulations.”
In today’s sprint race Russell swapped places with Lewis Hamilton several times before pulling away.
“Today, I thought I was pretty safe and comfortable. I think the Ferraris were deploying more [energy] into turn seven, I looked into my mirror out of turn six and I had a bit of a gap to Lewis, so I just thought, ‘Right, I’ll just manage the tyre a little bit and not kill it on the opening lap of the race.’ And he just caught me off-guard.
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“I don’t know what would have happened if I’d been able to lead lap one on both of those occasions.”
Russell eventually drew far enough ahead of Hamilton that the Ferrari driver was no longer able to use Overtake mode. This allows drivers to use more power providing they are within one second of a car ahead.
“I’m not too sure how I managed to break away as soon as I got into the lead,” Russell said. “I saw I had a really strong last corner. Lewis was catching me down the straights, but it just wasn’t quite enough that lap, and I pushed really hard, just broke away by a little bit.”
Hamilton then came under attack from Charles Leclerc, which allowed Russell to draw away more quickly.
“Charles was obviously [close], so I think Charles was maybe managing a little bit at the beginning, so that also helps. That was something we were thinking about at the start of this year.
“Lewis, last week, it felt like he was managing a bit and letting Charles and I tussle it out, and then he was ready to pounce. Then today it was Charles. Lewis and I were tussling and Charles was ready to pounce.”
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Formula 1 was quick to draw attention to the high number of position changes in the season-opening race at Melbourne. However as many of these occured due to differences in energy management or because a driver was able to use Overtake mode, some have questioned whether it constitutes authentic racing.
Russell is happy to take it at face value. “There’s a lot going on, but it makes it quite fun and definitely feels more like a go-kart racing in the past, like the top three, top four drivers are all in contention,” he said.
“I don’t ever remember Formula 1 being like that, where you can have three or four cars all fighting for the same position truly on track.”
Speaking after today’s qualifying session, Russell said it’s not clear whether ‘yo-yo racing’ will become a permanent feature of F1.
“We’re not actually sure to be honest at this stage. There is still lots of learning to be done and I think both in Melbourne and this morning in the sprint [race] I probably could have done things very slightly differently to have maintained that lead earlier on.”
However he believes those who were initially not keen on the racing created by Formula 1’s new rules are already changing their minds.
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“Clearly with the Overtake mode, the driver behind can use the boost button up to I think 330 kilometres an hour, where the guy in front can only use it to 290 kilometres an hour. It seems to work quite well. It isn’t DRS, but it works in a similar pattern for the speed delta.
“So, I think it’s been quite interesting, quite fun. I think even [the] diehards maybe aren’t disliking it as much as they did maybe a week ago, but we just still need to give it a chance.”
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