George Russell rejects Verstappen ‘Formula E’ dig but flags F1 2026 flaw

George Russell does not share the opinion of Max Verstappen that F1 2026 is like “Formula E on steroids” with the new rules. But, he has uncovered an “annoying” aspect at the wheel.

Russell revealed that due to the new engines, which feature a 50/50 split of electric and biofuel power, he is needing to take formerly third gear Bahrain corners in first, to keep the turbo going. Russell compared that to dropping into first gear at the “roundabout to the supermarket”, to illustrate the “annoying” nature of this requirement, one which the cars are not really designed for.

George Russell giving F1 2026 rules a chance, but…

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The new F1 2026 regulations are splitting opinions among the drivers now that they are getting to grips with these revamped cars. After the Barcelona shakedown, the F1 2026 stars have moved on to Bahrain, where the first of two three-day tests is complete.

While reigning World Champion Lando Norris is finding it “a lot of fun” so far, the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen have expressed concerns.

Verstappen has shared his views in arguably the most blunt manner, calling the regulations “anti-racing” and branding the sport’s new era “Formula E on steroids.”

One of the major things which drivers must adapt to is the increase in electrical power with these new engines. It means energy management is set to play a critical role in on-track success.

“I do think it’s a step forward,” Russell said of the new rules when speaking with PlanetF1.com and others at Bahrain testing.

“And I always like to give things a chance. We’re four days into a set of regulations that’s going to be over three years long, and the progress everyone’s going to make in these early months is going to be massive.

“I think the cars are way nicer to drive, the car itself. I’ve only ever driven the smaller generation of F1 cars twice, and I couldn’t believe the difference of how much more agile the car feels being lighter, smaller. So that’s very positive.

“The engines are very complicated, and to be honest, it’s probably causing more of a pain for all of the engineers than it is for the drivers.

“However, these two tracks, Barcelona and Bahrain, are arguably two of the easier circuits for the engine. So I don’t want to say anything too early before we get to the likes of Melbourne or Jeddah, but it will be much more challenging for the engines and the energy once we get there.”

Russell gave a clear “no” when asked if agreed with Verstappen’s assessment that F1 2026 is like “Formula E on steroids” with these more electrified engines, before adding: “I think the one challenge that we’re faced with is using very low gears in the corners.

“So to give an example, here in Bahrain, usually the first corner is a third gear corner in the previous generation. Now, we’re having to use first gear to keep the engine, the revs very high, to keep the turbo spinning. This is probably the one thing that is quite annoying and isn’t that intuitive.

“But for the rest, you can’t argue with the amount of power you have when you get the full 350 kilowatts.

“But I also think it’s going to progress a huge amount over the coming months. So, you know, we’ve got to give it time.”

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Russell was asked why he finds that annoying to have to use first gear now in such corners.

To explain, he set the scene of a drive to the supermarket.

“Imagine when you drive to the supermarket in your car and you get to the roundabout and you put it in third gear to drive around the roundabout, but suddenly, the person next to you says, ‘Put it in first gear,’ everything like, wham, revving, everything, like, you don’t go in the roundabout to the supermarket in first gear if you’re driving at a sensible speed.

“But this is the same thing. The car and the engine is kind of designed to go around this corner in third gear, but because of the turbo and the boost and all of this, you’ve got to keep the engine revs very high, which means you have to take first gear. So the car, it just isn’t really designed to do that. But you know, we’re working around it.

“Sometimes it feels like a bit of a handbrake when you’re having to go down the gears.

“I think this is the challenge we’re all facing, is, it’s slower in isolation to go around the corner in first gear instead of third gear, but then you would lose a lot of lap time in the straight.

“So that’s where we’ve got this big learning curve at the moment, knowing like how it affects you across the course of a lap. Whereas in the past, if you went around the corner quicker, or you tried something different and it worked, you know that’s positive, and you just carry that forward, whereas here you almost need to wait a full lap to actually learn what I did at Turn 1, has that cost me energy or not.”

Russell said the he is “quite intrigued to see how the fans will take it and how the races will look on television.”

Though, as a final nod to some of the criticism which has bubbled up on the new rules, Russell pointed out that drivers are rarely happy with what they have.

“Of course, we want the best cars. We want the fastest cars,” he said. “But, the fastest cars were the 2020 cars. And we were also saying that we want lighter cars, you know, similar to the mid 2000s, so then in the mid 2000s they were probably saying we want slick tyres and not grooved tyres.

“We as drivers like to complain, and the truth is, we’re sort of one of 20 people who get to experience this.

“But I also appreciate you know, the sport, there’s 10s of millions of people watching and following, and just if you’ve got the best cars for us to enjoy, doesn’t mean it’s going to give the best racing.

“And you can argue, potentially, the racing will be a bit more chaotic, but, the spread from the top team to the back teams at the moment seems far larger than we expected.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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