Toto Wolff responds to Lewis Hamilton strop as bosses risk Max Verstappen wrath

George Russell insists his experience in the junior categories tells him that reverse grid racing won’t work.

Formula One bosses are reportedly considering introducing a full or partial reverse grid to the six sprint races in 2024.

But Russell says: “I won’t talk on behalf of the drivers, but my own personal view is that I don’t think reverse grid races will work.

“Purely because I learned when I raced in Formula Two and Formula Three, is that if you’ve got the 10 fastest cars, the most challenging car to overtake is the one who you are fighting with.

“If you reverse that grid, you are going to have the quickest car in 10th, trying to overtake the second quickest car in ninth, who is trying to overtake the third quickest car in eight, so each car is trying to overtake their most direct competitor.

“What you’ll probably find is that it’ll just be a DRS train because you might have a Williams leading from a Haas who he can’t quite get past, who is leading from an Alpine who is leading from a McLaren or whoever. The concept won’t work.

“The best sprint races have been when there is tyres degradation, like we saw in Qatar and people on different strategies, and equally in Brazil, the tyres could only just make it 25 laps, and it was a good race.

“But most of the time, in the sprint races, you put the medium tyre, and you’re just flat out to the end and there is no good racing.”