"Imagine Nadal spending weeks without hitting a ball & going straight to French Open": George Russell invokes Spaniard to lament lack of testing in F1
George Russell could not find a better example than Rafael Nadal at the French Open to express his displeasure about the lack of testing in Formula 1.
With teams given just three days of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit ahead of the 2023 race season, Russell opined that it was akin to making Nadal show up at Roland Garros without letting him hit the ball for several weeks prior to it.
Speaking to racingnews365.com about the issue, the Mercedes driver said he believed that tennis would never allow such a thing to happen, making him wonder why F1 was the only sport that did not give teams enough time to prepare for the new season.
"Could you imagine Rafael Nadal spending 12 weeks without hitting a racquet or a ball, and then going straight into the French Open with one-and-a-half days' training? It would just never happen," Russell said.
With three days given to the team as a whole, Russell pointed out that it came down to just one-and-a-half days per driver, complaining that it was simply not enough time to get used to a new car. In the future, the Brit hopes for at least two cars to be given to teams so that each driver can get three days during the testing period.
"Personally speaking, I don't think three days is enough. You've got to remember from a driver's perspective, that is one-and-a-half days per driver and we were fortunate to do the [Pirelli tyre tests], but if we had not, that would have been getting on for 12 weeks out of the car from Abu Dhabi to Bahrain."
"I understand and recognise why we do that, and I think three days with two cars would probably be a good place to be and the best compromise for all the reasons they're trying to limit it, but right now, one-and-a-half days per driver is too few," Russell said.
Rafael Nadal yet to confirm Indian Wells participation amidst injury lay-off
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal is still recovering from the hip injury he sustained at the Australian Open and is yet to play a match since then. After pulling out of the Qatar Open and the Dubai Tennis Championships, the 22-time Grand Slam champion could pull out of the Indian Wells Masters as well, but official confirmation from his camp is still pending.
Having slipped to World No. 6 after his point-drop from the Australian Open, the Mallorcan could sink even further after Indian Wells, seeing as he reached the final of the tournament last year.