George Russell: All 20 drivers should do three full days of pre-season

Mercedes

Russell suggests solution to F1 pre-season testing controversy

The British driver believes the entire grid should be forced to do three full days in Sakhir

Stuart Hodge

Thursday 23 February 2023 07:24 Updated: 11:16

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George Russell has a solution to fix Formula 1's short pre-season testing window.

The Mercedes driver believes all 20 drivers should be on the track throughout the three days of testing.

Until this year at least, teams split the time of each driver, with each driver three sessions out of six in total.

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"I understand and recognise why we do that. I think three days with two cars would probably be a good place to be," he said, as reported by Motorsport.

And I think that would probably be the best compromise for all of the reasons why we're trying to limit it but right now one and a half days per driver I think is too few."

Comparing F1 to other sports

Fernando Alonso already claimed previously that the window of times was far too short and that only in Formula 1 does it happen to be like this.

"This year we have only one day and a half testing in Bahrain, so I am aware that I will not be 100% in Bahrain, not in Jeddah, maybe not in Australia. So that's a little bit unfair, maybe," Alonso said.

"I think that is the only sport in the world that you do one day and a half a practice and then you play a world championship. There is no other sport in the world [that does that]."

George Russell took his maiden F1 victory in Brazil last season

Despite the 16 years between the two drivers in age, Russell sees things the exact same way as the 21-year F1 veteran.

"Personally speaking, I don't think three days is enough, because you have got to remember from a driver's perspective, that is one and a half days per driver," said the Englishman.

Competitors have barely been able to get into their new cars and the start of the 2023 season is just over a week away.

Russell is adamant that for other elite athletes in different sports it would be unthinkable to go three months without really training with the proper equipment.

"We were fortunate to do the [Silverstone filming days] last week, but had we not, that would have been getting on for 12 weeks out of the car from Abu Dhabi to Bahrain.

"Could you imagine Rafael Nadal spending 12 weeks without hitting a ball and then going straight into the French Open with one and a half days of training? You know, it just wouldn't ever happen."