Russell laments current F1: “Race to Turn 1” after US GP

George Russell Criticizes Modern Formula 1 After the US GP

Mercedes driver George Russell has expressed his frustration with the current Formula 1, suggesting that the races have become a simple “race to turn 1”. This statement comes after a United States Grand Prix that, despite expectations, did not offer much excitement in terms of overtaking. Max Verstappen took the victory, marking the 13th time in 19 races that the driver in pole position won. Russell, who started from fifth position, finished sixth, losing a position to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at the start of the race.

“Right now in F1, it’s a race to Turn 1,” Russell told Sky Sports F1. “There’s no tire degradation, there’s only three tenths of a second between the fastest and slowest car in the top six.”

George Russell

Russell explained that the lack of tire degradation and the minimal differences between the cars make overtaking difficult. According to the driver, if he had maintained third position after the first corner, he would have finished on the podium. However, starting sixth, he finished in the same position.

Lando Norris of McLaren managed some overtakes in his fight with Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, although the different tire strategies influenced this. F1 has been looking for solutions to improve wheel-to-wheel racing for a long time. The Drag Reduction System (DRS) will be replaced with next year’s rule changes, but it has been criticized for being a temporary solution to deeper problems, related to the difficulty of modern cars to follow each other. Pirelli, the long-time F1 tire supplier, has been the subject of criticism, but Russell believes it is unfair to blame only this area.

“Pirelli always receives criticism, no matter what,” said Russell. “[When] there is a lot of tire degradation, people say it’s not real, that the drivers can’t push when they have to manage… [then] we don’t like it when there is no tire degradation, we say it’s a boring race.”

George Russell

Russell explained that, ideally, a tire would be needed that would allow drivers to push to the maximum for a certain number of laps before its performance decreased significantly, forcing several pit stops. The Mercedes driver concluded that, although Pirelli has improved its tires, they still contribute to less exciting races.