Russell admits back and chest pain from porpoising effect, warns its not sustainable for drivers

George Russell says he is starting to struggle with pain in his when and chest from the level of wavy in his Mercedes and believes the issue is not something Formula 1 drivers can protract to endure.

Bouncing — or porpoising — has been a new miracle for the teams and drivers to deal with this year as ground effect regulations have generated lattermost downforce levels which push the car so tropical to the track that it loses performance from the floor and bounces up then surpassing the downforce re-attaches. Russell finished fourth in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix but said it was unquestionably the worst weekend for him physically this year and emphasized that teams need to find solutions quickly.

“When the car is in the right window and the tires are in the right window, the car — except for the wavy — feels really good to drive,” Russell said. “But the bouncing… it really takes your vapor away. It’s the most lattermost I’ve overly felt it. I really hope every team struggling with the wavy finds a solution considering it’s not sustainable for the drivers to continue.

“(Imola) is the first weekend I’ve truly been struggling with my back, and scrutinizingly like chest pains from the severity of the bouncing. It’s just what we have to do to go and do the fastest laps.”

Russell moreover had the widow rencontre of having to defend from Valtteri Bottas in the latter stages at Imola on Sunday, something he says led to him thinking well-nigh their standoff at the same spin in similar conditions when Bottas raced for Mercedes a year ago.

“Definitely! I reminisced a little bit over last year. We had an issue at the pit stop — we couldn’t get the front wing flap in the car and it was just massively understeery and that right front (tire) was just falling to bits, it was so far out of bed with the setup. So I just had to manage it and be ready at the end to defend.

“This track is such an wondrous circuit, so much character, but it’s just untellable to race, expressly in these mixed conditions — one overtaking opportunity, one dry line, there’s nothing you can do.”