George Russell took an indirect swipe at Ferrari, accusing the team of blocking proposed rule changes to race start procedures. Tweaks to the rules have been called for after the season opener in Australian Grand Prix which raised safety concerns caused by the new engines being used in Formula 1.

Franco Colapinto showed extraordinary reflexes to avoid slamming into the back of Liam Lawson's Racing Bulls after the Kiwi found himself lacking power when the lights went out in Melbourne last Sunday. After the race, several drivers warned that there is likely to be a serious smash at the start of a race unless something is done to mitigate the danger.

That race start also highlighted an oversight in the procedure relating to battery power harvesting on the formation lap. As Mercedes racer Russell has explained: "Every lap there's a harvest limit. The drivers who started in the first half of the grid, who were beyond the timing line, they were already within that lap. So when you did your formation lap start, you're spending your battery and you're charging your battery, which goes towards your harvest limit.

"The drivers at the back, when they did their formation lap at the start, they then launch away, they cross the start-finish line, and then it resets because they're effectively on the next lap." That situation gives some cars a battery power advantage over others in those early seconds of a Grand Prix and it is something that governing body the FIA is looking to rectify.

However, it seems not everyone is on board with the idea of making changes. While he did not directly name Ferrari, Russell suggested they and the teams which use their power units might be the ones standing in the way of rule changes that are being proposed to help create a more smooth starting procedure.

He said in Shanghai on Thursday: "As you can imagine, some teams who were making good starts didn't want it [to change], which I think is just a little bit silly. They need a super majority from the teams which they don't have - you can probably guess which team is against that.

"I don't think their gain isn't coming from this issue. Now the teams know the problem, we'll just drive around it, but it's just creating a bit of unnecessary complications to something that doesn't really need to be there. So as I said, half the grid messed up in Melbourne, we'll adjust, we know what we need to be wary of now.

"The FIA did just want to make our life easier and just remove this harvest limit, but often people have selfish views and they want to do what's best for themselves and that's part of Formula 1. We'll deal with it and I think the starts here will be much better."