Russell mentioned the brand new fashion of F1 had made his early battle with Leclerc “dicey”.
Leclerc, who completed third behind Russell and his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli, mentioned the brand new requirement to continuously cost and deploy 350kw (470bhp) {of electrical} energy “will certainly change the best way we go about racing and overtaking”.
Lewis Hamilton, fourth behind Ferrari team-mate Leclerc, mentioned he “liked it, the race was actually enjoyable to drive”.
World champion Lando Norris, who completed fifth, predicted that F1 was “simply ready for one thing to go horribly flawed” given the velocity differentials concerned.
And 4-time champion Max Verstappen mentioned he liked racing however not like this. “I do need it to be higher than this,” he mentioned.
Of the battle for the lead for the primary 10 laps, Ferrari group principal Frederic Vasseur mentioned: “I am unsure that I noticed one thing like this the final 10 years.”
However the misgivings stay, and group bosses retain open minds in regards to the potential that the foundations may have to be tweaked after three races this 12 months – some extent at which all have agreed to take a pause and replicate.
The battle between Russell and Leclerc was a perform of the brand new know-how.
One would use the overtake or enhance mode to cross. However this not solely left them susceptible to being overtaken once more, because the vehicles swapped round who had essentially the most electrical power, but in addition made it tough for them to interrupt away from one another, and the remainder of the sector.
Actually, their battle compromised them closely, permitting Hamilton and Antonelli to catch up and briefly make it a four-way scrap for the lead earlier than a digital security automobile led to separate methods and an finally snug victory for Russell and a one-two for Mercedes. They appear formidably sturdy heading to the second race in China this coming weekend.
There was sufficient proof within the race that the considerations expressed by the drivers had been actual, too.
The velocity differentials in the beginning had been startling. There was one very close to miss between Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls and Franco Colapinto’s Alpine, and Norris and Russell each expressed considerations about them in racing on observe, too.
Norris was essentially the most outspoken.
“It is chaos,” he mentioned. “You are going to have a giant accident, which is a disgrace. You are form of driving and we are the ones simply ready for one thing to occur and one thing to go fairly horribly flawed, and that is not a pleasant place to be in.
“Simply relying on what individuals do, you may have a 30, 40, 50 km/h velocity (differential), and when somebody hits somebody at that velocity, you are going to fly and you are going to go over the fence and you are going to do numerous injury to your self and perhaps to others. And that is a fairly horrible factor to consider.”
Equally, is racing by urgent a button for extra electrical power actually racing? McLaren group principal Andrea Stella described it as “a bit bit synthetic”.
He added: “When the tempo settles and everyone seems to be on the identical sample from a deployment schedule viewpoint, then I feel that overtaking turns into tough. So I feel even from an overtaking viewpoint, that is one thing that we have to maintain reviewing.”
