The Mercedes driver’s view
George Russell won the Australian GP and does not share all the pessimism surrounding F1 2026. The perfect 50/50 split between electric power and internal combustion power created ‘monsters’ in Melbourne with cars that lost speed on the straights during Qualifying, an abomination given that we are talking about what should be the ultimate expression of high-speed motorsport.
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“It’s different, definitely different, but I think the interesting thing about these rules is that they won’t always be like this on all the circuits we race on – Russell said in the press conference – the next stop is Shanghai, where there is a long straight and therefore most drivers will use their energy on that straight. It’s not necessary to split it between four straights like we do here in Melbourne. People are always too hasty to criticize and jump to conclusions. When we had the best cars and the least tire degradation, everyone complained that the race was rubbish. Now the drivers are not perfectly satisfied and everyone said it was a fantastic race. Let’s give these rules a few races and then we’ll see.”
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Russell also added that he is not looking at the standings that see him as the World Championship leader: “For me, it’s just another win, we want to fight for the title and so every weekend we will take to the track with the goal of winning. We need to improve our level; many things didn’t go perfectly, starting from the start where we had a completely flat battery.”
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