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

Getty Images 

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

FERRARI CRITICISES "MEGA HARSH" LEWIS HAMILTON PENALTY IN F1 BELGIAN GP

Hamilton was given a five-second penalty for contact with George Russell’s Mercedes on the opening lap of the Belgian Grand Prix

Hamilton tagged Russell into a spin on the opening lap

Photo by: Getty Images

Both Lewis Hamilton and his Ferrari team boss, Frederic Vasseur, profoundly disagree with the five-second penalty he received for a collision with George Russell’s Mercedes on the opening lap of the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix.

"I think it's mega harsh," said Vasseur after the race. "If you have a look on the corner, Russell had enough space on the left-hand side, it's not that he was close to the wall.

"I think it's more a racing incident for me and this cost us a lot."

The contact eliminated Hamilton’s former team-mate from the race, but was fundamentally caused by the Mercedes power unit apparently suffering an electrical deployment issue through the first sector, causing Russell to lose position to both Ferraris on the run up the hill towards Les Combes.

Russell then tried to brake ultra-late on the outside line into the corner and looked as if he had reclaimed a place from Hamilton at least, only for the Ferrari’s front-left wheel to clout his sidepod and tip the Mercedes into a spin. At the time, Hamilton explained on the radio that he had "no front end" because he was in the turbulent wake of the car in front, Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.

"It was ultimately a difficult weekend," Hamilton said afterwards.

"I take all the responsibility for my incident yesterday [when he crashed in FP3], which then had a knock-on effect of the setup not being right, and then out of place in qualifying. Because I think with the setup right, I would have been probably, I think I could have been fifth or third or second.

"And then, that meant starting further back, and then I was in a position where George obviously looked like he lost power, and then he just swooped around on the outside, and we just sort of had a coming together.

"I got damaged, and then in the race, I did the best I could with the damage that I had, and then also the penalty.

"I think it was a racing incident, so I don't think there should be a penalty for that."

Steven Lee/LAT Images via Getty Images 

Hamilton served the penalty at his first only pitstop of the race, during a virtual safety car deployment on lap 20, but he was signalled to go while a mechanic was still attempting to make a front wing adjustment. That consigned Hamilton to fourth place on the road at the chequered flag, with the Briton facing another investigation for an unsafe release.

In fact, 10 seconds is that standard penalty for "causing a collision", but the stewards decided that mitigating circumstances warranted a lesser penalty.

"Approaching Turn 5 on the opening lap, Car 63 [Russell] attempted an overtake around the outside of Car 44 [Hamilton] and had established sufficient overlap to be entitled to racing room. Car 44 remained on the inside," said the stewards’ verdict.

"During the corner, Car 44 experienced understeer and, despite attempting to avoid Car 63 by applying corrective steering, made contact with the right-hand side of Car 63 with its left-front wheel. The stewards determined that Car 63 remained with the available racing room and the the collision was caused by Car 44 being unable to maintain sufficient separation.

"The stewards recognised several mitigating circumstances. Car 44 acknowledged the presence of Car 63, attempted to leave appropriate racing room, and made a genuine attempt to avoid contact. The collision resulted from a loss of front-end grip rather than from an aggressive or deliberate manoeuvre. In addition, the incident occurred on the opening lap, where reduced grip and compressed racing conditions are recognised.

For these reasons, while Car 44 was wholly at fault for the collision, the stewards consider that a five-second time penalty, rather than the standard 10-second time penalty, is the appropriate penalty in accordance with the FIA Penalty Guidelines."

- Stuart Codling and Filip Cleeren

BELGIAN GRAND PRIX 2026 | FINAL CLASSIFICATION

 

MERCEDES HAS BEEN FINED BY FIA FOR UNSAFE RELEASE AT SPA

 

KIMI ANTONELLI WINS BELGIAN GRAND PRIX TO EXTEND F1 CHAMPIIONSHIP LEAD

Mercedes driver won his sixth GP of 2026 as championship rival and teammate George Russell crashes out on first lap.

Kimi Antonelli celebrates winning the Belgian Grand Prix for Mercedes at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, July 19 [Andrej Isakovic/AFP]

Kimi Antonelli won the Belgian Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday to stretch his Formula One lead to 45 points over Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton on a bleak day for teammate George Russell, his closest title rival heading into the race.

Russell had been the 19-year-old Italian’s closest rival before the start at Spa-Francorchamps, but the Briton spun off into the gravel on the opening lap after a collision with Hamilton while trying to make up places lost at lights out.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was second in the 44-lap race, 1.952 seconds behind after leading, thanks to a pit stop while a virtual safety car was deployed, with Max Verstappen third to give Red Bull their 300th Formula One podium.

Hamilton finished fourth, despite serving a five-second penalty for the collision with Russell, but remained under investigation for an unsafe release from a pit stop that could drop him to fifth and further stretch Antonelli’s lead.

It was Antonelli’s sixth win in 10 rounds this season, leaving him 50 points clear of Russell. Antonelli was first in qualifying, continuing Mercedes’ clean sweep of pole positions this season.

“It’s great to be back on the top step after a few difficult rounds,” said Antonelli, who had drawn a blank in two of the past three rounds.

“It was a hard-fought race. We lost first place with the VSC but then we managed to make our way back.

“The momentum was always there. It was just about getting the results,” he added. “Today we were a bit lucky with what happened in terms of the championship but you have to take every opportunity because we saw how much it can swing.”

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finished fifth, with Isack Hadjar sixth for Red Bull from last on the grid. Reigning champion Lando Norris was seventh for McLaren after starting 13th due to a 10-place grid drop.

Gabriel Bortoleto brought more points for Audi in eighth place, with Arvid Lindblad ninth for Racing Bulls and Argentine Franco Colapinto completing the scoring in 10th place for Renault-owned Alpine.

- Reuters

KIMI ANTONELLI WINS THE 2026 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX

 

FIA PUNISH LEWIS HAMILTON AFTER DRAMATIC GEORGE RUSSELL COLLISION AT BELGIAN GRAND PRIX

Lewis Hamilton has been punished by the FIA after a dramatic collision with George Russell at the Belgian Grand Prix.

George Russell was involved in a dramatic collision on the opening lap of the Belgian Grand Prix with Lewis Hamiliton, leading to a punishment for the seven-time world champion.

The Mercedes driver has seen his bid for the 2026 drivers’ championship take another hit as he has had to retire from the race this weekend at Spa.

It means that he will receive no points for his world championship bid, seeing him lose ground on his teammate and title rival Kimi Antonelli if the Italian driver were to finish the race.

Before the red lights went out, the gap between the title rivals was 25 points, but this is expected to grow if all goes to plan for Antonelli.

Hamilton appeared to be at fault for the incident; at least that is the reading from the FIA, as they have given the Ferrari driver a five-second penalty for causing the incident.

The seven-time world champion will now serve that penalty when he enters the pit, with his team not being allowed to touch his car until the car has been sat stationary for five seconds.

Hamilton was straight on the team radio to defend his actions in the incident, as he said: “Car crossed over in front of me. I was right behind another car, so I had no front end.”

Russell appeared to be quite emotional in his interview with Sky Sports after the collision, after getting back to the pits following the collision.

He said: "I just got totally swallowed up down the straight," Russell told reporters back in the Spa paddock, before Hamilton was issued with a five-second penalty by the stewards.

"I lost three positions down the straight down into turn 5 and then the incident was a racing incident. Maybe I could have gone a bit wider or he could have braked a bit more.

"The incident wouldn't have happened if I had the speed down the straight. I'm very, very disappointed."

Hamilton’s Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc was involved in a collision just a number of laps later at the same corner, as he made contact with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

Leclerc would then progress past the Australian at the corner, and it appeared that this had an impact on the McLaren car as Hamilton, who was nearby during the incident, also overtook Piastri within a couple of laps following the incident.

However, while the seven-time world champion got a punishment from the FIA for his collision, Leclerc would not.

Featured Image Credit: Getty Images

- Brendan McGilligan

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F1 ANNOUNCES SPRINT RACE CALENDAR FOR 2025, BELGIUM REPLACES AUSTRIA

 Brazil will host its fifth sprint race since F1 introduced the shortened-race format; Austria drops off schedule

XPBimages

Formula 1 has announced the six grand prix weekends that will feature sprint events in 2025, with Spa-Francorchamps reinstated as Austria drops off for the first time since 2021.

Five of the events on the sprint calendar remain the same from 2024's schedule; China and Miami will continue to host Saturday races, as will Austin, Brazil, and Qatar.

Belgium had previously held a sprint race in 2023, although this was omitted alongside the Azerbaijan sprint from this year's calendar as the returning Chinese Grand Prix and the Miami round were installed as new hosts.

The return of a sprint race to the Belgian Grand Prix weekend comes at the expense of the Austrian Grand Prix, which first hosted a sprint in 2022 and remained on the schedule for the next two seasons.

Having held a sprint in every season since the format was introduced in 2021, the Sao Paulo Grand Prix will continue to do so having produced a series of highly acclaimed shorter races.

Both Qatar and the United States Grand Prix were first introduced to the sprint calendar in 2023 when the number of 100km races was increased from three to six, and remain on the bill for both this season and next.

F1 has also revealed an increase in viewing figures for sprint weekends over 'normal' weekends featuring three practice sessions, underlining its decision to continue with the format.

It is expected that the current layout used in 2024, in which the sprint race takes place on Saturday prior to grand prix qualifying, will remain in place.

This had been changed for this season to allow parc ferme to open between the sprint race and qualifying proper, ensuring that teams could address any mistakes in set-up to account for the loss in practice time.

The changes ensured that the sprints became more of a standalone event, rather than directly affecting the full-length grand prix, and now does not penalise drivers for any set-up changes between the sprint race and the grand prix.

Due to the revisions to the 2025 calendar over 2024, this ensures that the China and Miami sprints are no longer in consecutive weekends, while all three sprint rounds following the summer break are also more spaced out.

2025 F1 sprint race calendar

Chinese GP - Shanghai International Circuit - 22 March

Miami GP - Miami International Autodrome - 3 May

Belgian GP - Spa-Francorchamps - 26 July

US GP - Circuit of the Americas - 18 October

Sao Paulo GP - Autodromo de Interlagos - 8 November

Qatar GP - Losail International Circuit - 29 November

- Jake Boxall-Legge

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