GEORGE RUSSELL BLAMES A MERCEDES POWER FAILURE, NOT LEWIS HAMILTON, FOR HIS BELGIAN GRAND PRIX TITLE BLOW

• George Russell retired from the Belgian Grand Prix on lap one after colliding with Lewis Hamilton, but he pinned the cause on a Mercedes power problem rather than his former teammate

• Hamilton received a five-second penalty for the clash, yet both drivers agreed afterward that it was a racing incident

• Toto Wolff confirmed all Mercedes engines lacked power on the straights in the race, extending a pattern of reliability issues that has cost the team points all season

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George Russell’s Belgian Grand Prix ended on the opening lap, but the Mercedes driver said a problem with his own car, rather than the collision that put him in the gravel, was the real cause of his retirement.

Russell started third at Spa-Francorchamps and held the position through the first corner before Lewis Hamilton passed him along the Kemmel Straight. Russell moved to the outside of Hamilton into the braking zone at Les Combes to try to reclaim the place, the pair made contact, and Russell was spun into the gravel and out of the race. Hamilton received a five-second penalty for the collision, but Russell placed no blame on his former Mercedes teammate.

‘I Just Got Totally Swallowed Up Down the Straight’

“I just got totally swallowed up down the straight,” Russell told Sky Sports F1. “I lost three positions down the straight down into Turn Five and then the incident was a racing incident.”

“Maybe I could have gone a bit wider, maybe he (Hamilton) could have braked a bit more. The incident shouldn’t have happened if I had the speed down the straight,” Russell added. “Very, very disappointed.”

The collision followed a qualifying session in which Russell had already flagged a lack of power, finishing more than half a second off pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli in fourth. He had spent Thursday’s media day discussing changes to his driving style to try to find lost time in this year’s cars, only to reverse that thinking on Saturday and conclude his technique was not the problem.

“I appreciate everyone is working hard to solve the problem, but I’m stood here [in the TV interview pen] on lap five of the race,” Russell said when asked how Mercedes could get to the bottom of the issue. “It felt like I was in a good position to fight for the lead up to Turn One and then, suddenly, no power and it’s all gone.”

Hamilton Agrees It Was Nobody’s Fault

Hamilton, who went on to finish fourth carrying the penalty and separate front-wing damage, echoed Russell’s read on the incident once the race was over.

“Ultimately, sorry for George because that obviously ended his race, but I did think… I do agree that it was a racing incident,” Hamilton said. “It’s not like I went in aggressive and was misplaced or anything like that. I think it was just an unfortunate scenario, which happens in racing. Then I had damage as well, so I carried that through the race. It was a tough one.”

Wolff Confirms a Problem Across the Whole Grid

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff went further than Russell in explaining what had gone wrong, confirming that every Mercedes-powered car on the grid had lost straight-line performance in the race. As well as building their own engines, Mercedes also supply McLaren, Alpine and Williams with power units.

“The accident that happened was unfortunate for us. We lost a lot of constructors’ points and George’s drivers’ points,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1. “We had an issue on all Mercedes engines that we lacked the power out on the straights. That hit him badly and it 100 per cent goes on us.”

“We are trying our best as a team. We have the most powerful power unit, a strong car that is capable of winning,” Wolff added. “Everyone is giving their maximum to minimise the mistakes and still it happens because we are humans at work.”

A Season Defined by Reliability, Not Pace

Russell’s retirement at Spa was his second of the season following an engine failure in Canada. His teammate Kimi Antonelli has had his own share of mechanical trouble, retiring in Barcelona after an engine failure and dropping from a likely victory to outside the points at Silverstone after a wheel-guard failure.

“We let Kimi down at Silverstone where George got a podium, which is maybe better than the result should have been,” Wolff said. “Then one DNF for Montreal, the other in Barcelona. That’s a little bit of the story of our season. It’s a technical sport, a mechanical sport.”

“We came out with a product [power unit] that is so strong and I’d rather fix the reliability rather than accelerate a slow engine, or slow car,” he continued. “We are giving it 100 per cent and need to give it 100 per cent because we lost a lot of points with reliability. We should be much further ahead than we are.”

Championship Fallout

The result dropped Russell 50 points behind championship leader Antonelli, and Hamilton’s fourth place moved him back ahead of Russell into second in the standings, 45 points off the lead.

- Jack Renn