George Russell SLAMS 'pointless' F1 tyre amid Spa debacle

George Russell

Russell SLAMS 'pointless' F1 feature and demands 'improvements'

The Mercedes driver was not pleased after Saturday's controversial sprint race

Matthew Hobkinson Lead Editor

F1 Editor & Journalist

Sunday 30 July 2023 11:57

George Russell has lashed out at Formula 1's 'pretty pointless' extreme wet weather tyres after drivers were mandated to start on the most cautious set of rubber during Saturday's sprint race.

After a substantial downpour fell over Spa just minutes before Saturday's sprint race was set to take place, the FIA ruled that all cars were to start on full wets behind the safety car.

Safety no doubt at the forefront of their minds, with good reason, but the performance of the extreme wet weather tyre has left F1 drivers somewhat frustrated.

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And Russell in particular believes that while the blue tyre is up to seven seconds slower than its green counterpart, due to the intermediate's aquaplaning difficulties, 'substantial' improvements need to be made over the current compounds.

Russell: Wet weather tyres are pointless

The safety car led out the grid ahead of Saturday's rolling start for the sprint race

“The extreme [wet] tyre is a pretty pointless tyre, it's really, really bad,” Russell told media including GPFans.

“It's probably six, seven seconds a lap slower than the intermediate. And the only reason you'd ever run the extreme wet is because you'd aquaplane on an intermediate. So that needs to be substantially improved.

“The aquaplaning with fairly little water is really substantial. I remember watching the old onboard videos of 2007 with [Felipe] Massa and [Robert] Kubica in Fuji, so much water, they were still pushing flat out.

“I remember doing test days here in Formula 3 and Formula Renault, on Michelin and Hankook, aquaplaning wasn't really a thing, but I appreciate we're doing well over 200 miles an hour.

"It's not straightforward. But, there needs to be some significant improvements."