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George Russell has snapped back at Lando Norris's fierce criticism of the new F1 rules, believing the world champion would not make such comments "if he was winning."

Following a fifth-place finish at the Australian Grand Prix, Norris labelled the new energy management-dominated formula as "very artificial" and warned that F1 risked a "big accident" with Max Verstappen also critical.

However, Russell, who won the race from pole position to cement his status as title favourite, swiped back at Norris's criticism, believing all drivers were "selfish" and looking after their own best interests as he urged the new regulations to be given a fair chance.

Albert Park was regarded as one of the trickiest circuits on the calendar for energy management owing to the long straights and lack of heavy braking to aid energy harvesting, with Russell adding that the Chinese GP next weekend would be entirely different in the energy strategy used.

"Yeah, well, he’s always… yeah, I don’t know. If he was winning, I don’t think he’d be saying the same," Russell told media, including RacingNews365, when asked directly about Norris's comments.

"We weren’t happy with how stiff the cars were last year and the porpoising, and everyone had a bad back, and drivers were complaining about that, but McLaren drivers said there was no porpoising, even though we watched their car and they were porpoising.

"So everyone’s always looking to themselves, and we’re all selfish in this regard. The truth is, last year we had the same engine as them and McLaren did a better job than us, and they beat us.

"Now McLaren have got the same engine as us, the same as Williams and the same as Alpine, and so far we’ve done a better job than them. So that’s just how the game goes.

"I think the interesting thing with these regs is every track we go to, they’re not always going to be like this.

"We’re going to Shanghai next, where you’ve got one big, long straight, so the majority of drivers will be using their energy on that one straight. You don’t need to divide it up between four like you do here in Melbourne. So, everyone’s very quick to criticise things.

"You need to give it a shot. We’re 22 drivers. When we’ve had the best cars and the least tyre degradation and when we’ve been happiest, everyone moans the racing’s rubbish.

"Now drivers aren’t perfectly happy, and everyone said it was an amazing race. So, you can’t have it all, and I think we should just give it a chance and see after a few more races."