What was supposed to be a friendly kart race before Formula 1 duties resumed at Sepang quickly became far more competitive. George Russell, Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon, Oscar Piastri, Oliver Bearman and Gabriel Bortoleto headed onto the track shortly after arriving in Malaysia for the Bahrain Grand Prix, which will unusually be held at Sepang.
According to George Russell, however, the group eventually stopped taking things easy. “It was carnage,” the Mercedes driver recalled, revealing that Gabriel Bortoleto finished with bruises on his back, Oscar Piastri almost broke a rib and George Russell himself decided to stop before the end.
“I got to the point where I was thinking: I’m going to break something here,” George Russell admitted.
George Russell reveals F1 drivers’ kart race in Malaysia
The six Formula 1 drivers had arrived in Malaysia several days before track action was due to begin at Sepang and decided on Tuesday to return to the type of machinery on which almost all of them began their racing careers.
The venue was Morac Adventure Park in Langkawi, featuring a 1.3-kilometre kart circuit. There were no Formula 1 simulators, engineers or race strategies to consider – just the same circuit, karts and a group of drivers who normally compete against each other in Grand Prix machinery.
Before the racing became particularly physical, there was still time to compare lap times. George Russell was fastest in the group with a 1:24.214, ahead of former Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi, who recorded a 1:24.677.
Carlos Sainz followed with a 1:25.722, ahead of Alex Albon on 1:25.936. Oliver Bearman posted a 1:26.255, Gabriel Bortoleto a 1:26.305 and Oscar Piastri completed his quickest lap in 1:26.422.
Russell fastest as drivers use unusual karting names
The names displayed on the timing screen also reflected the relaxed atmosphere at the beginning of the day. George Russell had registered himself as “g dawg”, Alex Albon appeared as “Albino Albino”, while Oscar Piastri simply chose “OP”.
The fun eventually gave way to considerably more contact. George Russell described what followed as something resembling a “banger race”, with collisions increasingly becoming part of the action.
The physical consequences became obvious once the drivers climbed out of their karts.
“Gabriel Bortoleto had bruises on his back, Oscar Piastri almost broke a rib,” explained George Russell, fresh from his victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
At that point, the Mercedes driver decided not to continue until the end. With another Formula 1 Grand Prix only a few days away, the risk of suffering an injury had become greater than his desire to keep racing for fun.
Friendly kart race becomes fiercely competitive
The incident was not serious enough to become a major concern. George Russell told the story with amusement, describing what can happen when some of the most competitive drivers in the world return to karts without a Formula 1 championship directly at stake.
For many Formula 1 drivers, karting represents a return to where their careers began. George Russell himself started racing at the age of seven after following his brother Benjy into the sport and won several championships before progressing to single-seaters, including the FIA European KF3 Championship.
Karts remain an unusually physical form of racing even for drivers accustomed to much more powerful Formula 1 machinery. There is no power steering or conventional suspension, while the seat is effectively integrated with the chassis, meaning many of the forces acting on the kart are transmitted directly into the driver’s body.
Once significant contact is added to that equation, bruising and rib pain can quickly become part of the experience.
F1 drivers return to serious business at Sepang
That physical nature probably helped turn what was intended as a relaxed day away from Formula 1 into something considerably more intense. Once the visors came down, simply being there to have fun was apparently not enough to persuade the drivers to slow down.
For George Russell, the return to his racing roots lasted long enough. After seeing the condition of Gabriel Bortoleto and Oscar Piastri and beginning to feel the effects of the racing on his own body, the Mercedes driver parked his kart.
Stopping was the sensible option. Only a few days later at Sepang, George Russell, Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon, Oscar Piastri, Oliver Bearman and Gabriel Bortoleto will have to start racing seriously again – this time in Formula 1 cars.
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