George Russell calls for more drastic F1 rule change after Japan decision

George Russell believes F1 could have gone further with its late change to energy levels available for qualifying at the Japanese GP.

On Thursday, it was confirmed that in a bid to combat the controversial 'super-clipping' in which cars harvest energy at the end of long straights in qualifying, the overall energy limit for cars would drop to 8MJ from the previously mandated 9MJ.

Suzuka, with a lack of heavy braking zones, akin to Australia's Albert Park, is an energy-starved circuit, meaning drivers simply cannot force enough energy back into their batteries through normal regeneration under braking, forcing super-clipping to take over.

This is essentially a driver staying on full throttle, even though the car begins to slow after the computer systems on board start to harvest energy, up to 250kw of the 350kw capacity of the new batteries.

Championship leader Russell, who finished first and third, respectively, in the two sessions on Friday in Japan, felt F1, the FIA and the Power Unit manufacturers (PUMs) could have further reduced the energy limit, with the current 1MJ reduction limiting the amount of super-clipping required.

"The deployment issue out of the last corner was probably costing me two to three tenths, but I think it's pretty easy to rectify for [qualifying], so we're not too concerned about that," Russell explained.

"The 9MJ to 8MJ of energy was 100% the right decision. Arguably, we could have gone even further. 

"It would have increased lap times a little bit, maybe in the order of one second a lap, but having this really high peak top speed and then de-rating and super-clipping down to quite a slow speed into the first corner, as an example, would have been less extreme. 

"So, I think we can afford to drop it, but generally, it was the right decision to change."