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George Russell has added his name to the already growing list of drivers starting to raise concerns over the excessive bouncing phenomenon that has made its way into the sport with the new cars. Speaking to the media after Friday's practice sessions in Baku, Russell was quite vocal about the cars bottoming out in the high-speed corners.
Claiming that the sport cannot continue to run like that for the next 4-5 years, Russell said:
“Now with the cars are running so close to the ground, in the high speed corners the cars are fully bottoming out and it’s the same for everybody, it’s really not comfortable to drive. I don’t know what the future holds for this era of cars but I can’t see us running like this for the next four years so for all of us, conversations will be needed as we’re all in the same boat.”
Mercedes didn't have the best first day in Baku in terms of car performance. The W13 was back to its old bad habits as the bumpy nature of the track resulted in excessive bouncing down the straights. George Russell finished FP2 in seventh, more than one second slower than the fastest time, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton fared even worse with a time that was 1.6 seconds slower.
50% deficit from performance and 50% from the tires: George Russell
Speaking about the issues faced by Mercedes, George Russell touched on the fact that both Red Bull and Ferrari have inherently better cars than his team, which makes it easier for them to 'switch on' the tires while others struggle.
Post-Friday's run, he said:
“It was a tricky day and clearly we weren’t as competitive as we’d have liked to be. It’s a tough track to get the tyres switched on and in the right window. You saw a number of other drivers set their fastest times right at the end of a run, whereas Ferrari and Red Bull seem able to just turn it on. At the moment, they have an inherently quicker car than us and we’re doing everything we can to catch up. Even if we get on top of the tyres, that’s only 50% of the problem, the other 50% is just car performance.”
Russell might be in for another weekend of battling to get into Q3 on Saturday and then fighting his way through the field on Sunday.
