![](\"https:\/\/www.grandprix.com\/display\/photo?photo_caption=George+Russell%2C+Australian+GP+2026&photo_copyright=%C2%A9+Mercedes&photo_url=https%3A%2F%2Fphotos.grandprix.com%2Fjpeg%2Fraces%2Fpaus26%2Fsun%2Fmer%2Fpodium2-lg.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nGeorge Russell, Australian GP 2026
\u00a9 Mercedes<\/p>\n
Current F1 drivers George Russell and Oscar Piastri were in action for Pirelli’s 2027 tyre development program on Tuesday, with wet-dry conditions greeting the opening two days.<\/p>\n
The test – which continues on Wednesday when Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli take over – is strictly limited to tyre work, meaning teams cannot trial their own developments.<\/p>\n
You know, Formula 1 is also so difficult because we don’t have the opportunity to practice much, but that’s the rule, Russell said.<\/p>\n
We’d like to do a huge number of starts, but we’re not allowed to.<\/p>\n
Piastri agreed the running is useful, even if limited.<\/p>\n
It’s not quite the same as a race weekend or a race. Still, it’s better than nothing, he said.<\/p>\n
But beyond the technical work, both drivers used the opportunity to highlight the appeal of the Nurburgring’s familiar F1 layout itself – and the absence of Germany from the modern calendar.<\/p>\n
I really enjoyed driving this morning. I really love the Nurburgring. I also did a few laps of the Nordschleife. I really, really like it. It’s a truly traditional, old-school track, Russell said.<\/p>\n
Yeah, you know, I’d love to come back here for a race someday, of course we don’t have any races in Germany right now, but with Mercedes it would probably be nice to get one back on the calendar.<\/p>\n
Piastri echoed the sentiment, praising the circuit’s unique character.<\/p>\n
It’s a great track. I haven’t raced here in a while – the last time was in 2019. It’s an old-school track with bumps and specific kerbs, especially at the exit of corners, he said.<\/p>\n
There’s almost no room for error – it’s all grass and gravel. Some sections are very challenging, and behind the wheel of a modern Formula 1 car, the track feels quite compact compared to the ones we usually race on. But it’s always great to return to such historic tracks.<\/p>\n
When asked directly about a return to Formula 1, the Australian was open.<\/p>\n
“Of course. I don’t mind. It’s not my favourite track, but it’s very interesting and unique. There are a lot of elevation changes, and, of course, the history of this place is also very important.<\/p>\n
Racers love old-school tracks. The kerbs and runoff areas typical of such tracks always provide more driving satisfaction when everything is done correctly. It would be nice, but we’ll see.<\/p>\n
(GMM)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"APRIL 15, 2026 Two top Formula 1 drivers have called for the Nurburgring’s return to the calendar, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[944,855,884,911,898,64,63,839,840,892,936,937,922,864,868,843,512,874,906,897,817,836,904,848,845,826,837,813,835,816,867,876,894,841,842,833,908,887,860,909,930,914,939,886,934,832,834,858,941,875,861,850,870,854,900,866,846,880,943,889,878,823,881,863,933,935,910,859,913,844,923,927,896,926,883,938,932,824,901,871,852,849,888,872,891,915,822,838,918,916,857,879,893,869,931,885,924,847,882,851,865,925,928,942,929,85,920,921,902,862,919,917,873,940,905,912,895,853,856,877,819,903,899,907,890],"class_list":["post-609331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-adrian-sutil","tag-albers","tag-alesi","tag-ammermuller","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-autoracing","tag-autos","tag-badoer","tag-bahrain","tag-barcelona","tag-benetton","tag-bruno-senna","tag-button","tag-cars","tag-china","tag-david-coulthard","tag-davidson","tag-doornbos","tag-f1","tag-f1-racing","tag-fauzy","tag-felipe-massa","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-ferrari","tag-fia","tag-formula-1","tag-formula-one","tag-formula1","tag-giancarlo-fisichella","tag-gilles-villeneuve","tag-glock","tag-grand-prix","tag-grandprix","tag-grandprix-com","tag-hakkinen","tag-hamilton","tag-heikki-kovalainen","tag-hill","tag-hockenheim","tag-honda","tag-hungary","tag-ide","tag-indianapolis","tag-inside-f1","tag-insidef1-com","tag-jaime-alguesuari","tag-japan","tag-jaques-villeneuve","tag-jarno-trulli","tag-jenson-button","tag-juan-pablo-montoya","tag-kamui-kobayashi","tag-karthikeyan","tag-karun-chandhok","tag-kimi-raikkonen","tag-klien","tag-korea","tag-kovalainen","tag-kubica","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-liuzzi","tag-lucas-di-grassi","tag-magny-cours","tag-malaysia","tag-mansell","tag-mark-webber","tag-mclaren","tag-michael-schumacher","tag-minardi","tag-monaco","tag-montagny","tag-monte-carlo","tag-monteiro","tag-montreal","tag-monza","tag-motorsport","tag-nakajima","tag-nick-heidfeld","tag-nico-hulkenberg","tag-nico-rosberg","tag-paffett","tag-pedro-de-la-rosa","tag-piquet","tag-prost","tag-racing","tag-racingcars","tag-red-bull","tag-renault","tag-robert-kubica","tag-rosberg","tag-rossiter","tag-rubens-barrichello","tag-san-marino","tag-sato","tag-sauber","tag-schumacher","tag-scott-speed","tag-sebastian-vettel","tag-sebastien-buemi","tag-senna","tag-silverstone","tag-singapore","tag-spa","tag-sports","tag-spyker","tag-super-aguri","tag-sutil","tag-timo-glock","tag-toro-rosso","tag-toyota","tag-trulli","tag-turkey","tag-valles","tag-verstappen","tag-vettel","tag-vitaly-petrov","tag-vitantonio-liuzzi","tag-webber","tag-williams","tag-winkelhock","tag-wurz","tag-yamamoto","tag-zonta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}