Are Ferrari and Red Bull bending rules? Mercedes driver says yes

Are Red Bull Racing and Ferrari bending the rules? Mercedes driver George Russell has no doubt the two championship contenders are pushing the boundaries. The Briton feels Mercedes can make up ground when the new regulations come into effect at the Belgian Grand Prix after the summer break.

Mercedes have slowly but surely made up ground on Red Bull and Ferrari as the season progressed. At the start of the 2022 F1 season, the Silver Arrows cars were almost a second behind, but have now closed the gap to just a few tenths.

"There's no doubt we are making progress as a team," Russell said, Sunday, as quoted on Crash.net. "At the start of the season, we were finishing a minute behind the lead. Now it's 10 seconds in the last couple of races. If we can continue on that path, we will definitely be in the hunt."

The main issue for Mercedes has been the porpoising issue - the intense bouncing on straights. It has limited their ability to unlock the true performance from their unique car design, but the reigning Constructors' champions could be aided by the new regulations introduced by the FIA.

Citing driver safety, the governing body has introduced a new set of regulations to limit the bouncing and monitor vertical oscillations. The likes of Red Bull and Ferrari were unhappy with the sudden change in regulations, which has seen the Mercedes team principal accuse teams of playing outside the regulations.

Russell has now joined the bandwagon and believes the two leading teams are bending rules. Red Bull and Ferrari are thought to have found a solution on the underside of the car to allow them to run a lower ride height without facing the bouncing issues.

The former Williams driver feels the two teams could lose performance when the new regulations kick in at Spa Francorchamps later this month. It will certainly become clear if Red Bull and Ferrari were running cars that were not under the set regulations.

"There's no doubt Ferrari and Red Bull have pushed the regulations in that regard and we have respected it as the regulation was intended," he added. "But there's no guarantees that it will bring them closer to us. We know, if it was on our car, it would make us slower. Every car is different, but it's not going to help them, that's for sure."