Amid Mercedes Degrading Struggles, George Russell Suggests a Way Defying F1’s Identity to Make More Exciting Races

The Brabham fan car in 1978 and the double-wing McLaren from 1970. F1 has always been about being the pinnacle of innovation, most of which is aerodynamic. However, George Russell recently implied that F1 should get rid of one of the things that make up its identity in favor of closer racing. With Mercedes struggling, did Russell suggest this to help his team? What exactly did Russell say?

Mercedes has been struggling with the W14 even before the season started. It was explained how the team realized the problems yet went ahead because of the promising numbers. The W14 lacks downforce and is slow around high-speed corners. As a result, the team needs to run a very high downforce draggy setup which then causes straight-line issues. Mercedes’ Top speed with DRS open is sometimes as much as Red Bull’s with no DRS. 

George Russell recently opened up about the changes in rules and FIA making the racing more interesting. The main race in Baku and Miami were substandard and not that entertaining. The Briton suggests that higher tire degradation makes races interesting by introducing multiple stops and strategies. Pinching the W14’s weakness, Russell cheekily highlighted how DRS is not the way to go for closer racing and how karting used to be all about close racing as there was no aerodynamics involved. 

According to Soymotor.com, George Russell said, “Simple things such as greater tire degradation can make races more exciting. At the end of the day, we all want to have the best and most exciting races possible.” Further adding, “As far as the DRS is concerned, we have taken the wrong path. We are going to discuss this with the FIA because we want to be able to compete as we fought with each other in karting, when aerodynamics was not a problem.”

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F1 is known to be the pinnacle of motorsport because of the R&D that goes on, a lot of which is Aerodynamic related. With Mercedes coming up with a new Aerodynamic package at Imola to solve these issues, Toto Wolff explains what’s coming and what the Silver Arrows are chasing.

Toto Wolff on what Mercedes are chasing with the new Aero package 

Toto Wolff suggested that Mercedes will bring new bodywork, floor, and front suspension for the major upgrades expected at Imola. With the scrapping of the Zeropod concept, it would be interesting to see what the new body looks like and does. The Austrian explained how the W14 lacks downforce and that is what the Silver arrows are chasing at the moment.

According to PlanetF1.com, Toto Wolff said, “I think we are chasing downforce and we’re trying to do the best possible job in terms of the mechanical platform. What we’re doing is we’re introducing a new bodywork, and we’re introducing a new floor and we’re doing a new front suspension and that’s pretty large.”

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What do you make of George Russell’s statement about aerodynamics?