“It seemed pretty inevitable”– George Russell claims F1 has lot to learn from unnecessary dangerous Jeddah F1 track

Tanish Chachra | 06/12/2021
"It seemed pretty inevitable"– George Russell claims F1 has lot to learn from unnecessary dangerous Jeddah F1 track

George Russell, who couldn’t complete the race after being hit by Nikita Mazepin last night, claims that incidents like these were inevitable.

On the race restart, George Russell, who was vying for Williams in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, got hit by Nikita Mazepin. The incident caused the second red flag of the race, as his car was not the only one to enter DNF.

Sergio Perez also got hit in the traffic and had to leave the race. Reacting to the chaotic events of Sunday, Russell claims that whatever happened was inevitable. Moreover, he thinks F1 has a lot to learn with the race in Jeddah.

“It seemed pretty inevitable, you go around a Turn 2 that’s fairly wide and open – cars can go side by side – and then it really funnels in and goes pretty narrow pretty fast,” he told Autosport right after his exit.

“I came around a blind corner. Cars were everywhere. I slowed down and then got hit entirely from behind. So, a lot to learn, I think, for motorsport this weekend because it’s an exhilarating track to drive. Still, it’s lacking a lot from a safety perspective and a racing perspective.

“And there are unnecessary incidents waiting to happen in all of these small kinks that are blind, which are not even corners in an F1 car, but they just offer unnecessary danger.”

Also read: Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz has his personal sponsor’s logo covered during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

George Russell suggests changes

F1 is set to revisit Jeddah in March for the 2022 season race. Russell, ahead of his return next year, expects F1 to plan some improvements, and he has his own suggestions to give too.

“I think you live and learn from these experiences,” he explained. “You can’t blame anybody for trying to make an incredible racetrack, and ultimately, that’s what they achieved. But I think nobody foresaw what was about to happen with all of these blind corners.

“In my opinion, yeah, track changes are needed, you’ve got so many of these small kinks that are totally unnecessary. And that could all just be made into a straight line from Turn 2 to Turn 4 and just be straight from Turn 17 to 22.”
“We’ve got five corners, which is a section which is easy flat out, even with the DRS. I don’t know what the limitations are. That also needs to be looked at. And ideally, if that were made into a straight line, the safety would drastically improve.

“I think they’ve got the resources to do it here, so it shouldn’t be a limitation. Safety needs to come first. If you can improve the danger drastically with small changes, then it’s a no brainer.”

Also read: Sebastian Vettel tries to make statement in Saudi Arabia while donning pride coloured shoes

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
George Rusell Williams

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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