GEORGE RUSSELL DEMANDS 'SERIOUS CONVERSATIONS' AFTER BAKU F1 RACE - 'NOT GOOD ENOUGH'

George Russell wants to hold "serious conversations" with Formula 1 chiefs as he and his rivals struggle to get to grips with they tyres they have to drive on.

He was speaking after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, at the end of which he crossed the line third. But, like many others, he had suffered a significant fluctuation in terms of performance over the course of the race, depending on the tyre he was on.

Russell was sluggish in the opening stages in the mediums and it looked like it was going to be a race to forget. But after his pit stop he found much more pace with hard tyres and was able to take advantage when Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez crashed out while duelling for third place.

"We'll definitely take the podium, but it was such an odd race," he told reporters afterwards. "The first half of the race, we were one and a half seconds off the pace. The last 20 laps, I was a second quicker than Oscar [Piastri] and Charles [Leclerc] and three tenths quicker than Max [Verstappen], Checo [Perez] and Carlos.

"It's the same circuit, same driver, same car - we just went from a yellow tyre to a white tyre. Honestly, it's actually pretty infuriating that it changes this much. And it's not just Mercedes, it's every team and every driver. One session you're fast, the next you're not, and there's only one thing that changes."

Pirelli are long-time suppliers of tyres to the F1 championship and have acted swiftly in the past to rectify issues when they have been raised by drivers. And Russell thinks it is time for more talks with the Italian company.

He added: "I think even the people who make the tyres don't understand the tyres. But I think we all need probably serious conversations again about what's going on, because we've got 2,000 people working their butts off to deliver the fastest car and for 20 laps of the race, we had a car that was comfortable of fighting for victory.

"The 20 other laps, we had a car that probably shouldn't have been in the points and the only difference is the tyres. And it's not good enough, really."

Russell's points haul helped Mercedes to feel better after a tough weekend for his team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Perez and Sainz's crash helped him to score two points in ninth place - but after the race the seven-time champion wanted to talk about the rookies that finished either side of him, Franco Colapinto in eighth and fellow Briton Oliver Bearman.

He said: "It was really great to see the rookies doing so well today. To see such great young talent coming through with bright futures and to be racing amongst them was really cool."

2024-09-15T16:47:20Z dg43tfdfdgfd