SHANGHAI, China — George Russell said his wheel-to-wheel fights with Ferrari in the opening two race weekends of the year remind him of his go-kart battles as a kid.
Russell had to overcome a long back-and-forth with old teammate Lewis Hamilton to win Saturday’s sprint race in China. He did similar against Charles Leclerc in the early stages of the Australian Grand Prix to win the opening race last weekend.
F1’s new cars have come under heavy criticism from some drivers, including world champions Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, but Russell said he can never remember having battles in Formula 1 to match the ones he’s currently having.
“There’s a lot going on, but it makes it quite fun and definitely feels more like go-kart racing in the past,” Russell said. “Like the top three, top four drivers are all in contention. And 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.”
He added: “I just spoke with Charles, and we were like ‘well, actually, this was pretty fun in the end’. So, a lot of strategy at play, and how you do the overtakes.”
– Chinese Grand Prix: George Russell wins F1 sprint
A key part of the new races is the energy management required by drivers and with different areas of the track they can deploy their boosts.
Russell’s battles with the Ferrari pair at either race have unfolded in a similar way, with neither car able to shake the other for a chunk of laps.
During Saturday’s sprint, there were numerous occasions Russell passed Hamilton down the long back straight, only for Hamilton to power back past around Turn 1.
Russell was eventually able to keep Hamilton at bay down the start-finish straight and that then seemed to break the “yo-yo effect” Leclerc spoke about after their own battle in Melbourne.
Asked what the reason for the back and forth was, Russell suggested he’s been approaching the new style of racing with a conservative mindset. “I’ve got to be honest, I think both times it’s been me,” Russell said. “I’ve been pretty cautious.
“I was very cautious in Melbourne because, you know, 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. You do all of these simulations.
“And then again today, I thought I was pretty safe and comfortable. I think the Ferraris were deploying more into Turn 7, and I looked into my mirror out of Turn 6 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.
“So, I don’t know what would have happened if I’d have been able to lead lap one on both of those occasions. And then yeah, I’m not too sure how I just managed to break away as soon as I got into the lead. 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.”
While Mercedes appears to have dominant qualifying pace at the moment, Russell is convinced Ferrari will pose him a similar threat during Sunday’s full-length grand prix.
“We’re a little bit surprised by our qualifying strength and potentially their lack of pace compared to what we expect. But the race pace, it looks really close between, between us. We saw this last week and said it in Melbourne. I think if they were on the same strategy as me, I’m not convinced I would have won the race. And again today, you know, it was a real tussle between us, and I was pushing at the end of those last three laps and Charles finished the race 0.7s behind me.
“With one more lap, again, you know, it would have been a fight. So yeah, we just need to keep pushing. It’s not a walk in the park for sure.”
