Hamilton issues serious warning in ‘absolutely not great’ verdict

Drivers were in fact forced into heavy lift-and-coast from 130R through to the Triangle chicane, at times losing over 60 km/h, despite the change introduced on the eve of the weekend reducing energy from 9 to 8 MJ.

Speaking to F1 TV at the end of the day, the seven-time world champion said: "It's definitely not great. It's not great, absolutely not. It's actually challenging stuff. You arrive in some places and you're kind of coasting in because you've got no power.

Russell highlighted a clear super clipping issue across the final sector, particularly from 130R to the last chicane, admitting it was costing him noticeable lap time.

At the same time, he backed the move to reduce energy from 9 to 8 MJ, but suggested the governing body could have taken it a step further, arguing that a bigger reduction would smooth out the extreme drop from peak speeds into heavy clipping zones, even if it slightly increased overall lap times.