George Russell shares surprising 'good news' after eye-catching Mercedes test

George Russell has joked that the new generation of F1 car will "save a few years on the back" after the eradication of porpoising.

Throughout the ground-effects era, cars were prone to the aerodynamic phenomenon of bouncing as the underside of the floor stalled before quickly re-attaching, with the oscillation cycle known as porpoising.

Multiple drivers initially reported major concerns in 2022, with Lewis Hamilton particularly suffering at the 2022 Azerbaijan GP, with his participation in the next race in Canada briefly in doubt. 

The FIA stepped in during the season to make rule changes to reduce porpoising, but by the end of the ground effects era, it had returned, albeit to a lesser extent.

For the 2026 generation of car, the conditions for porpoising have been removed with the floor of the car no longer required to as close as possible to the track surface to create downforce, with the 'rake' returning.

This is the difference in ride height between the front and rear of the car, with the rear higher, under which Mercedes dominated in the old rules cycle between 2017 and 2021. 

Reflecting on the first week of running with the 2026 breed of car, Russell, who completed a field-leading 265 laps of Mercedes' own chart-topping 502, felt the immediate improvement for the drivers. 

"It's been a positive test; we had lots of mileage on the car, which was the main focus of the test," Russell reflected.

"The car is feeling nice to drive, there are no major issues, and no porpoising, which is pretty good news for all of us.

"It will save a few years on the back, so all in all, it was a decent few days.

"The car has been working well, but it is not about how well it works; it is about how quickly it goes around the track, and we don't really have an indication of that at the moment.

"But we're in a reasonably good place, but I'm sure things are going to change a lot between now and the next Bahrain test, and then I am sure people will be bringing upgrades to the car, so it is still very much early days."