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George Russell has hit out at Pirelli for bringing harder tires at the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix, which he thinks resulted in a boring race. He argued that due to less degradation, many drivers managed to pull off a one-stop strategy, which is not ideal as it takes the fun away from a race.
The 2025 Japanese Grand Prix unfolded last weekend at the Suzuka International Circuit. The track has many high-speed corners, and hence Pirelli brought in hard tire compounds for the race.
However, since the circuit has been refurbished, the tire degradation was much less compared to previous seasons. Hence, most teams went for a one-stop strategy. However, Mercedes driver Russell wasn't a fan of the tire compound provided by Pirelli in Japan.
He argued that harder tires with no degradation are stealing the fun from races, resulting in boring outcomes. Russell cited his own situation where he started the Japanese GP from P5 and finished at the same position since it was difficult to overtake.
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Talking to the Pit Debrief, George Russell said:
“I think these last two weekends the tire compounds have been too hard… It’s been an easy one-stop for both races, and that’s just really taken any fun from the strategy. I hope we can maybe react as a sport because we all finished where we started. There just wasn’t enough difference in the tire degradation. Ultimately, you could only go as fast as the driver in front.”
Mercedes, however, did try to give Russell an advantage by pitting him early on lap 15. However, the British driver couldn't undercut Charles Leclerc as his tires were too hard. Eventually, despite a long chase, he failed to edge past Leclerc and settled for a P5 finish. His teammate, Kimi Antonelli, crossed the checkered flag behind him at P6.
George Russell points out a big mistake in the Japanese GP qualifying session
The Japanese GP results largely matched the starting grid as most drivers finished the race exactly where they started from. Mercedes teammates, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli also met a similar fate, finishing P5 and P6, respectively, with no overtakes.
Meanwhile, Russell revealed that a gamble during the qualifying session proved costly as it kept him from finishing much higher. Talking to the media, he said (via Formula 1):
“I’m pretty disappointed with the last lap, to be honest. I tried something different with the tires, tried to get them a bit cooler to be better at the end of the lap, and ultimately we went too far and had no grip at the beginning of the lap. You pay the price. P5 isn’t terrible, but I would have liked to have been higher up."
George Russell's Mercedes had better pace compared to Charles Leclerc's Ferrari. However, due to fewer opportunities for overtaking, he was unable to get past and finished the race at P5.
