George Russell has fired back at Lando Norris’s criticism of the 2026 F1 cars, claiming Norris wouldn’t be complaining so strongly if he were still winning.
Norris, the reigning World Champion, described the new Formula 1 machinery as a step from the “best” to the “worst” cars after finishing P5 in Melbourne, 51 seconds behind race winner Russell. The Mercedes driver also pointed out that McLaren remained largely silent when Mercedes had raised concerns over porpoising with the ground-effect cars while McLaren were winning.
Norris, who initially supported F1’s new regulations, has joined Max Verstappen in openly criticizing the changes, particularly the artificial nature of overtaking due to battery deployment.
Russell responded in the post-race press conference:
“It’s different, it’s definitely different. But I think the interesting thing with these regs is every track we go to, they’re not always going to be like this. We’re going to Shanghai next where you’ve got one big, long straight, so the majority of drivers will be using their energy on that one straight. You don’t need to divide it up between four, like you do here in Melbourne.
So, everyone’s very quick to criticise things. You need to give it a shot, you know. We’re 22 drivers. When we’ve had the best cars and the least tyre degradation and when we’ve been happiest, everyone moans the racing’s rubbish. Now drivers aren’t perfectly happy and everyone said it was an amazing race. So, you can’t have it all, and I think we should just give it a chance and see after a few more races.”
Russell’s comments highlight the divide among drivers over the 2026 regulations, with some struggling to adapt while others urge patience as the new era unfolds.
George Russell has continued to push back against Lando Norris’s criticism of the 2026 F1 cars, dismissing claims that they are the “worst cars” ever.
Norris, frustrated after finishing P5 in Melbourne, said the cars were “ever worse” in race trim compared with qualifying and argued that the near 50/50 split between electric and internal combustion power is insufficient.
Russell responded:
“If he was winning, I don’t think he’d be saying the same. We weren’t happy with how stiff the cars were last year and the porpoising, and everyone had a bad back and drivers were complaining about that, but McLaren drivers said there was no porpoising, even though we watched their car and they were porpoising.
So, you know, everyone’s always looking to themselves and we’re all selfish in this regard. The truth is last year we had the same engine as them and McLaren did a better job than us and they beat us. Now McLaren have got the same engine as us, the same as Williams and the same as Alpine, and so far we’ve done a better job than them. So that’s just how the game goes.”
Russell’s comments underline the competitive tension over F1’s new regulations, with drivers divided on whether the 2026 cars are truly flawed or simply take time to master.
The 2026 season continues this weekend with the Chinese Grand Prix.
Additional reporting by Mat Coch.