George Russell has used Ayrton Senna's unique driving style to mount a defence of the new F1 rules Max Verstappen branded as "Formula E on steroids."
During pre-season testing, Verstappen launched an astonishing broadside against F1's new power unit regulations, branding the new energy management demands as "anti-racing" and as "Formula E on steroids."
The new breed of power units produces their power output from a 50-50 split between the internal combustion engines and the beefed-up electrical systems, with the batteries now holding 350kw of charge.
This is an increase from 120kw in 2025, with the MGU-H being removed. As such, in order to ensure they do not deplete their reserves of energy and become vulnerable to a rival, drivers must conserve their supply and lift and coast into corners to help save as much energy as possible.
However, Mercedes driver Russell, who completed the most laps of any driver in testing with 688 and a total of 3,523km (2,189 miles), believes that the energy management demands are simply the "quirk" of this generation of machine, as he pointed to Senna's aggressive 'stabbing at the throttle through the corners' technique in F1's previous turbo era.
"I mean, the guiding principles are still very much the same, and you're pushing the car to the absolute limit," Russell told media, including RacingNews365.
"You're trying to brake as hard as possible and as late as possible, and carry as much speed through the corners.
"I think for every single era of cars, there is a quirk of driving, and I've watched the Ayrton Senna onboards from the 1980s and 1990s, where he's driving in a very unique style.
"Blip and throttle around the apex of corners to keep the turbo spinning and balance the car.
"We're maybe doing a bit more lift and coast than you would ordinarily expect, but here in Bahrain and in the [shakedown] in Barcelona, it really didn't feel that bad.
"Melbourne may be a different story, but so far, I'm quite enjoying it."
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