George Russell on wanting a title fight with Max Verstappen, his love of competition and the ‘positives’ of the 2026 cars
Verstappen has been the most outspoken of all the drivers about the new rules introduced to F1 this year, giving Mercedes the chance to get ahead again.
“Mario Kart,” “Formula E on steroids” and “anti-racing” are just three of the catchy phrases Verstappen has used to describe these new cars, which feature engines with a 50-50 split between internal combustion and electric power.
They require energy management throughout the tour and have been criticized for preventing drivers from failing in qualifying. Although there were many more overtakes, even this was not always seen as a positive development, as some of these occurred due to the very variable battery charge levels inherent in the rules.
Verstappen is not the only driver to criticize the new rules. But Russell feels differently.
“I definitely don’t share that,” he says. “Personally, I’m really enjoying the car. The power unit and the engine are definitely different. And it just needs a little tweaking to really optimize it. But it’s been given the opportunity to fight harder and race back and forth.”
“We’re on a kart track here right now. And Lewis made a great point that in a kart race you go around a corner and it turns around. And they come back around again. And no one has ever called it Mario Kart or yo-yo racing or whatever the terminology is. We actually call it pure racing and great racing.”
As director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, Russell directed the drivers’ representation to the rule makers that the cars should be changed so that qualifying would become flatter again; That’s why some rule changes were made this week.
But he believes even this is exaggerated.
“Those who think that drivers go slower in corners to be faster on the straights are wrong.”
“There are some little quirks that the FIA has done its best to iron out. These are pretty complicated details and, to be honest, fans don’t really need to understand.”
“These small changes that the sport has made from this race onwards will make our lives easier. In qualifying we will be on the straights and we will not have to take off to manage our energy.”
He also pointed out that what is happening inside the cars this year should be seen in the context of F1 history.
“I remember watching F1 20 years ago, hearing the roar of the engines, it was amazing, but I didn’t see a single overtake.”
“This was probably the purest Formula 1 we’ve ever seen. But the racing was boring.”
“So I think we only remember the positive side of things. And right now we like to focus on the negative. There are a lot of positive things about this new regulation and the new tools.”
“I spoke to a Formula 1 driver who won multiple races in the 80s and 90s and he said they would have a boost button that would give them 300 more horsepower, but at the end of the straight, at the start, they would run out of fuel.
“So that’s always been there to some degree. It’s different now, of course, but we always like to highlight the negatives and remember the good things in the past.”
