George Russell Feels Lando Norris Wouldn't Have Had Such A Big Issue With Regulation Changes 'If He Were...':

Last Updated:March 08, 2026, 16:54 IST

Russell finished ahead of teammate Antonelli and the Ferrari duo of Leclerc and Hamilton to race to the flag in Melbourne as defending campion Norris could only manage a P5 finish.

Mercedes star George Russell, who kick-started the 2026 season of Formula One with a victory at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, opined that defending champion Lando Norris wouldn’t have been as bothered with the massive changes to the regulations had he won the opener in Melbourne.

Russell held off challenge from teammate Kimi Antonelli and the Ferrari do of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to race to the chequered flag in Melbourne as reigning F1 World Champion Norris could only manage a fifth place finish.

Norris, who held off a stiff challenge for the title last year from Max Verstappen, who came in sixth behind Norris on the opening race day of the season, voiced that his side have a lot of work to do in order to catch up.

Norris lamented the seismic shift the sport has undergone with the massive changes in regulation, which has witnessed the engine power units switch to 50 percent battery.

“We’ve come from the best cars ever made in Formula One, and the nicest to drive, to probably the worst. It sucks," Norris told reporters at the season-opener in Melbourne.

“Everyone knows what the issues are. It’s just the fact the engine is a 50-50 split and it just doesn’t work."

Russell touched up on how the new car feels in comparison to the mean-machines from last year, which suffered issues with porpoising.

“If he was winning I don’t think he’d be saying the same," said Russell.

“We weren’t happy with how stiff the cars were last year and the porpoising. Everyone had a bad back and the drivers were complaining about that and the McLaren drivers said they had no porpoising, even though we watched their car and they were porpoising," the Brit added.

“So everyone is always looking to themselves and we are 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.

“That’s just how the game goes," he concluded.

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