George Russell's Formula 1 World Championship challenge took another big hit at Spa as he finished his Belgian Grand Prix in a gravel trap on the first lap – courtesy of a shove from none other than his former Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.
But while the FIA stewards judged Hamilton to be at fault and gave the Ferrari driver a five-second penalty, Russell was adamant that he was only in the position to be hit because his power unit didn’t perform properly, and left him vulnerable to those behind.
Russell made his feelings about the PU glitch clear with an expletive-ridden radio rant to his team, which culminated in him saying, "Unacceptable – unf**cking acceptable, this whole weekend..." On a day when Kimi Antonelli scored a well-judged win and extended his title advantage, Russell’s non-score was a huge blow for the Englishman.
View Price on AmazonRussell was frustrated by a lack of straight-line pace relative to Antonelli – something that the team was ultimately unable to explain, but which could only be related to the complexities of the 2026 power unit, which continues to frustrate drivers. And it was a different PU issue that caught him out on the first lap of the race, as he fell into the clutches of his pursuers.
Russell said when Road & Track asked him about the incident, "I made a good start, I made a great first corner, and I was tucked up right behind Verstappen. But for whatever reason, the battery decided not to recharge at Turn One. So I went around the first corner, the battery didn't charge, and I exited the first corner 35% down. And because of that, because it didn't charge, I also had a boost problem; the turbo didn't sort itself out, so I had no power. I got to the top of Eau Rouge with 0% battery. Quite frankly, it was dangerous. I got swamped by three cars. Shouldn't have been in that position in the first place. That's why I'm most angry."
Hamilton found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time as he got to the end of the straight, and he was unable to avoid hitting Russell and sending him into the gravel. To his credit, Russell didn’t overly blame his former teammate.
Russell stressed that the PU issue wasn’t related to the problems he’d suffered earlier in the weekend, but was just the latest in a series of costly quirks: "This time something totally different. But it's every day, isn't it?” Regarding his struggles this year, he added: “Numb to the disappointment now. So when it happens so often, you just get used to it…”
Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff indicated that Russell was right in highlighting a loss of power, and it didn’t only happen to him. "All Mercedes engines had a lack of energy out of Turn 1,” said the Austrian. "So that wasn't only George. It affected him more than Kimi, but also Kimi had that issue to a certain degree, and that meant that he didn't come out at the end of the straight in P3, but what was it, P5? So he lost his two positions, and then obviously the accident with Lewis. And it's unfortunate, losing points for him, losing points in the constructors' championship. And it's like every weekend we have one car that doesn't finish."
Source: roadandtrack.com
