Mercedes experienced a day of extremes at the Belgian Grand Prix of Formula 1 on Sunday (19). While Kimi Antonelli turned pole position into victory at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, George Russell retired on the first lap after an incident with Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari. The
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Russell started third on the grid, a position inherited after Lando Norris was penalized for changing power unit components. The Mercedes driver had originally secured fourth place in qualifying and was seen as one of the contenders to fight for the top positions in the race.
However, his race began to get complicated right after the start. Russell had a slow exit from Turn 1, La Source, lost speed on the climb up Eau Rouge and also on the Kemmel straight. Without pace, he was quickly overtaken by the pack until his race ended prematurely after contact with Hamilton at Les Combes corner.
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Annoyed with the problem faced before the collision, Russell complained over the team radio and attributed part of the performance loss to the car’s lack of power: “I’m out, what the hell happened with the SOC on the straight? I had no battery on the straight! Unacceptable. Unacceptable as hell!”, said Russell.
The incident between the two British drivers was reviewed by the race stewards, who decided to penalize Lewis Hamilton with five seconds for his involvement in the collision.
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