George Russell has identified a unique hack on how to drive cars in the new Formula 1 regulations, which he says has been corroborated by other drivers in the field.
The new regulations cycle sees a variety of changes, the cornerstone of which is the new 50-50 hybrid power units, equally split between internal combustion and electric power.
This requires drivers to harvest energy on every lap, and be more strategic when it comes when and where to overtake.
The aerodynamic changes have helped see the back of ground-effect, with the new cars now able to run on much higher ride heights, and the likelihood of pre-ground-effect high rakes being commonplace.
No ground-effect means no more porpoising, and for drivers, this is a welcome development, given the physical problems it was creating, particularly with back discomfort.
And Russell was quick to state his pleasure at being able to jump out of a car without such an ailment.
“It’s finally nice to have no porpoising, to be honest. My back is having an easier time of things!” he joked to select media including Motorsport Week.
George Russell identifies 2026 F1 quirk
In terms of negativity, Russell has yet to find anything significant on this front, but commented on how the new PUs are leaving drivers feeling somewhat short of power when tackling a high gradient of circuit, a predicament noticed at last week’s Barcelona test.
“There hasn’t been anything as yet that has surprised us in a negative way,” the Mercedes driver added. “I would also say, more from a power unit side, there was obviously lots of chat around potentially having a downshift in the straights in some circumstances.
“That will probably continue to be the case, but it doesn’t feel that abnormal, to be honest.
“The way I would describe it is like if you’re driving your car up a hill, you’re still going flat out, but you’re losing a bit of speed, and you may just downshift to give you a bit of extra revs to get up that hill. That’s how it sometimes feels when the engine is harvesting, and you’re regenerating the battery.
“There are occasions that you can downshift at the end of a straight, even while you’re flat out, but it felt more bizarre in the simulator than it did in reality, to be honest.
“I spoke with a few other drivers, and they actually commented the same, so that was quite intuitive.”
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