The dawn of the new F1 season is finally here. With fans finally getting to watch their favorite drivers and their beastly new challengers on the track again, the testing season provides a tiny sneak peek into what the season could possibly hold for the sport. However, Mercedes padawan George Russell reveals some major problems with this format.
Russell wants more. Claiming that the 13 hours of testing before the season starts is nothing in their pursuit of greatness- using Tennis great Rafael Nadal as an example, he puts into perspective the dilemmas of being an F1 athlete with the season just around the corner.
Russell calls out F1 in a frustrated plea
Unlike other sports where athletes can continue to work on their craft and practice even during their off-season, F1 doesn’t have that facility. Drivers can resort to karting as an option, but that’s where the line is drawn. Each team is allotted a certain amount of track time to use their challengers apart from racing- for media duties and PR; before the season, the scheduled testing sessions.
George Russell rightly uses Rafael Nadal, the epitome of success in his sport, as an example of why F1 drivers have been dealt the wrong cards. Conversing with RacingNews365, a frustrated Russell explained, “Could you imagine Rafael Nadal spending 12 weeks without hitting a racquet or a ball, and then going straight into the French Open with one-and-a-half days’ training? It would just never happen.”
Russell explains that he understands why they do what they do, but three days is simply not enough for a driver. The 25-year-old was also backed by veteran Fernando Alonso, who chimed in saying, “[F1] is the only sport in the world that you do one-and-a-half days of practice, and then you play a World Championship”
George Russell & Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Testing Program
The trend formed with teams sees the three-day run time split between the two drivers, and Mercedes has followed suit. George Russell will be the first to take the W-14 around the Bahrain circuit on Thursday morning while Lewis Hamilton taps in during the afternoon. The roles are reversed on Friday, and then back again on Saturday for the final day of testing.
Also Read: How To Watch the F1 Testing in Bahrain: Will the 2023 F1 Testing Be Televised?
Before stepping into the car, Hamilton has his fingers crossed for two features of the dreaded W-13 to return in the 2023 challenger- the long race pace and reliability. Speaking to the media, he said, “those two are the things I think that we definitely want to hold on to. But all the other stuff, we want to really reinvent, redesign, and hopefully [we will] see a more efficient car.”
As the cars hit the tarmac, it would be interesting to see where Mercedes stands. With true colors being revealed only at the first race- hopefully, the Silver Arrows will make their much-awaited comeback.
