Wolff waves off backlash over new F1 rules: 'It’s becoming pure racing'

The incident involving Oliver Bearman, triggered by a significant speed difference with Franco Colapinto on the approach to the Spoon Curve, has further fuelled criticism of the new regulations, with several drivers raising concerns over safety.

Once again, today’s race delivered plenty of overtakes - far more than we saw at Suzuka last season - although many of them came down to differences in battery deployment rather than genuine, last-of-the-late-braking moves.

Speaking to DAZN after the race, the Mercedes team principal offered a different take: “Formula 1 is changing and it's just becoming pure racing, and it’s very exciting when you see someone harvesting and someone deploying.”

Asked by Viaplay whether it had been his most frustrating race of the season so far, having missed out on a podium despite having the fastest car, Russell admitted that was indeed the case.

He pointed to how small margins ultimately defined his race, explaining that a single lap difference could have put him in contention for the win. Things then unravelled after the safety car restart, when he hit the harvest limit and was unable to recharge the battery, leaving him exposed and quickly passed by Hamilton. Further issues with energy deployment then cost him another position, with Leclerc also getting ahead.

Russell acknowledged that the harvest limit makes sense on push laps, but criticised its application during formation laps and safety car phases, arguing that it creates unnecessary complications.

While he felt the overall racing product is working reasonably well, he suggested qualifying still needs adjustments, particularly to avoid such extreme swings between high-speed phases and the sharp drop-off towards the end of the lap, stressing that it remains early days under the new regulations.