Wading into F1's 'bouncing' row
Mercedes' early season problems were rooted in a phenomenon known as 'porpoising' - an aerodynamic disruption under the floor that sets off a high-frequency vertical oscillation, with the car crashing into the ground, then rising before crashing down again.
Once on top of that, Mercedes discovered issues with 'bouncing' - a related but different kind of problem, caused by the fact the cars run low and stiff to generate best performance.
Right now, F1 is embroiled in a row over rule changes introduced by governing body the FIA
aimed at addressing this matter, imposed on safety grounds, bypassing the normal rule-making procedures.
Red Bull and Ferrari oppose the changes, and are campaigning for them to be watered down, if not overturned completely.
What is rarely mentioned is the FIA's intervention came after an official request from the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) for it to do so, because the drivers as a group were worried about potential long-term health effects.
Russell is one of three directors of the GPDA, along with Sebastian Vettel and chairman Alex Wurz.
"We all did a survey," he says. "I actually haven't seen the end result - it's just with our lawyer and Alex Wurz, and the FIA are aware of what the outcome was.
"It's along the lines of: 'Is the porpoising/bouncing affecting you from a health perspective? Do you feel you have more pains after a race, compared to previous years? Is this something the FIA needs to look into?'
"I don't know the exact figures, but I'm pretty confident the majority would have said something needs to change."
So the drivers as a group are in favour of what the FIA is doing?
"Yeah, absolutely," Russell says. "It is never going to be a 100% majority.
"It is clear that some teams seemingly don't struggle as much as others,
but even when you look at the race last week with Charles [Leclerc] when he went off. You listen to his on-board video going into that corner and the car is completely smashing into the ground. 'Tch, tch, tch,' all the way into the corner. You see his head bobbing up and down.
"Mick Schumacher had an off in the same corner in free practice, exactly the same, the car just smashing against the floor. And it's kind of an unnecessary risk and danger we have to go through because that is the fastest way to drive the cars."
Is Russell saying bouncing might have been a cause or contributory factor to Leclerc crashing out from the lead in his Ferrari?
"Well, it's not going to help," he says. "We know what the load variation was through the car, and the car was bouncing up and down by over 50% of its weight.
"So if the car is 700-odd kilos and the variation is over 400kg, you know, as a driver, you can't control that, when it's plus/minus 400kg every half a second entering a corner.
"As you slow down the severity gets less. But these cars are so sophisticated with the aerodynamics and if it is just bouncing around, the tyres not in contact with the ground or not as much force into the ground as it should haveā¦ I don't know, but it does seem interesting that the two incidents in that corner for a whole weekend, both were porpoising on the entry."
What does porpoising feel like in the car?
"It's kind of like you're on one of those space hoppers - that's an extreme version," he says. "But it's not cushioned. Then your visibility is becoming quite difficult because you're shaking around up and down, down the straights.
"I don't have the answers, but it's down to the FIA to intervene. It's just totally unnecessary and there's already enough risk associated with driving 200mph between the streets of Monaco, or Jeddah. Or Silverstone."
