"They aren't idiots": Why George Russell says F1 and FIA should be left to decide rules

The Mercedes driver believes that his rivals on the grid may be too selfish to have a say on F1's regulations

Formula 1 and the FIA will roll out a raft of changes to the 2026 regulations at this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix and some drivers have responded by calling for a greater say on how the rules are set. However, George Russell believes the series and its governing body would be better left in charge of such matters.

Drivers up and down the grid have been increasingly vocal in their thoughts on the 2026 ruleset, which mandates for smaller, lighter cars and new power units that rely on a near-50:50 split in electrical and internal combustion power.

The latter of these changes has dramatically altered the way drivers qualify and race, which forced the FIA, F1 and the teams to develop a series of tweaks that will debut at this weekend’s Miami race.

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The regulations face a tough test this weekend as drivers pass their judgement on the changes, which four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen described as “just a tickle”. However, Russell believes that his compatriots on the grid should place more faith in the FIA and F1 to develop regulations that work for the series.

"The truth is, F1 and FIA, they aren't idiots, they know what they're doing and the fans are loving the racing at the moment,” the Briton said. “Rightly or wrongly, the racing has been exciting.”

But while the Mercedes driver admitted that drivers “should be involved” at some stage in the development and fine-tuning of F1’s regulations, he fell short of calling for a permanent seat at the table for the stars of F1.

This is in stark contrast to comments made by his former team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who claimed yesterday that drivers should have a say on the direction of any new rules that roll out in F1.

George Russell will have his first taste of the updated regulations this weekend

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

Instead, Russell warned that drivers may not have the best intentions when it comes to setting out regulation changes in F1.

“Obviously we're the ones who have to drive the thing, but equally we are quite selfish as well as drivers,” Russell told the media ahead of the Florida event. “What may be the best and coolest and fastest cars for us to drive may not be the most exciting from a racing perspective.

“Because, as I said, if you take the V10 era from the early 2000s that is probably a really great base of what a driver wants from a race car, but the races were boring and there was no overtaking and there weren't as many fans following the sport.”

It was these claims that F1 races had become dull that led to the development of the 2026 regulations, which have dramatically increased the number of overtakes in races. While some have called these new passes “artificial”, F1 bosses maintains that, on the whole, the changes have been good for the series – which it says is appealing to new fans and ramping up TV viewership at 2026 races.

However, the series and its governing body have taken feedback from drivers onboard in developing tweaks to the 2026 regulations.

At this weekend’s race, changes to energy deployment and harvesting in qualifying will roll out, and a tweak of the energy deployment in the start of F1 races will be trialled to prevent drivers from getting bogged down off the line.