Victory in the Belgian Grand Prix could not have been sweeter for Kimi Antonelli, but it has cruelly exposed something of an inexplicable faultline within his Mercedes team. The Italian teenager’s joy stood in stark contrast to his teammate George Russell, who was knocked out on lap one after a clash with Lewis Hamilton, for which Russell squarely blamed his team and what he sees as a weakness with his car they seem unable to rectify.
Hamilton had clipped Russell at Les Combes, which the Mercedes driver considered a racing incident. Russell, however, was vehement in his belief that he should not have been competing for a corner with the Ferrari and that he had been forced to do so because he was once more enduring a lack of straightline speed. It is a deficit that notably is not affecting Antonelli, giving the conspiracy theorists a field day but more importantly posing a conundrum for Mercedes that they apparently cannot quite fathom.
Earlier during the weekend Russell said the deficit in electrical energy deployment left him feeling powerless and, after the British driver walked from his car beached in the gravel on Sunday, he said he was numb with disappointment.
The issue has plagued Russell since the Austrian GP but reached a head in Spa – not least in that his title hopes have taken another body blow. The win has given Antonelli a huge lead in the world championship, with the 19-year-old now 50 points clear of his teammate and 45 in front of Hamilton.
The sense of disbelief and despondency on Russell’s face was clear afterwards. The incident was another in what has been a season of no little ill-fortune for the British driver, including an electrical failure in Montreal and an unwarranted pit‑lane speeding penalty in Monaco that kept him out of the points.
After something of a resurgence in the preceding three rounds, including a win in Austria and during which Antonelli endured his own poor luck, Russell had reduced the Italian’s lead from 64 to 25 points and might have believed better fortune was to follow. However, he was left aghast in Spa, discovering – as Half Man Half Biscuit observed – that the light at the end of this tunnel was the light of an oncoming train.
The incident had itself been relatively innocuous. Russell had started in third but had been swallowed up by the Ferraris when he lacked acceleration out of the first corner and on to the Kemmel straight. He tried to go round the outside of Hamilton at Les Combes and the Ferrari driver, down on front‑end grip because of his proximity to the car in front, found his left front wheel sliding into Russell’s right rear, pitching the Mercedes into the gravel and out of the race. Hamilton was given a five‑second penalty for causing a collision – cold comfort to Russell, who was denied the chance to score points.
Russell said it was a racing incident but noted pointedly that it was his lack of pace on the straight that left him vying with Hamilton in the first place. “I just got totally swallowed up down the straight,” he said.
“I lost three positions into turn five. It was a racing incident, maybe I could have gone a bit wider, maybe he could have braked a bit more. The incident shouldn’t have happened if I had the speed down the straight. Very, very disappointed. No words at the moment. I am numb to the disappointment. When it happens so often you just get used to it.”
after newsletter promotion
The Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, did his best to make a measured assessment of the travails Russell is facing but that there is an issue is clear and it is proving potentially terminal to Russell’s title hopes. Nor is he alone in his frustration. The McLaren team principal, Andrea Stella, whose team use Mercedes engines, noted that they had observed a similar unexplainable discrepancy between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, not because of driving style but “engine deviation”.
None of which detracts from Antonelli’s superb win with a commanding drive, including coming back at the second‑placed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, after the Monegasque driver had gained the lead through the pit stops but proved unable to resist the Mercedes as the Italian hunted him down and passed with ease.
Indeed Russell was doubtless partly so frustrated because Antonelli demonstrated again with aplomb in Spa quite how comfortable he is with the car. The Italian now has six wins and has reasserted his supremacy in the title race, while Russell has but discontent and demands for answers.
Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull, while Norris came back from 13th on the grid to seventh for McLaren, with his teammate Piastri fifth. Hamilton finished fourth. He was investigated post-race regarding an unsafe release in a pit stop, during which he was cleared to go and struck a mechanic still leaning over his front tyre who escaped injury. Hamilton did not receive a further penalty but Ferrari were fined.
