Formula 1

F1 News: George Russell Hits Out At Teams After FIA Backlash

Mercedes driver, George Russell, has hit out at other teams who are not putting the safety of their drivers first with the ongoing porpoising issues.

Many teams have been suffering from porpoising so far this season, and Mercedes seem to be the worse off with it. Russell has been suffering with back pain as well as his teammate Lewis Hamilton. A lot of pressure has been put on the FIA to make some changes to help with this, Russell called for action after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix where the bouncing was particularly bad.

A lot of debate has gone on behind the scenes over these issues and it was finally announced yesterday that the FIA will be changing the Aerodynamic Testing Regulations from the 1st July. Before the decision was finalised, Russell addressed the divide in opinions over this at the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, saying:

 

“There’s obviously a lot of mixed agendas here from different teams and drivers. And we’ve heard it from Carlos [Sainz] at times, and Checo [Sergio Perez] and Max [Verstappen] earlier in the season, how bad it’s been.

“But now their performance seems to be strong, they obviously don’t want changes because it can only hinder them.

“So it is obviously a bit of a shame to see performance prioritised over safety. But you know, there’s no doubt in Baku, I could see my pit board, but I couldn’t read my pit board because I was bouncing around so much.

“I saw a video of Lance [Stroll] on one of the laps, struggling to change the buttons on the steering wheel because you visibly saw how much the car was shaking around, how stiff it was, and everything.

“You know, we’re all competitive animals here in this sport, and we all want to win but we can’t put our bodies at risk before any of that.”

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