George Russell has expressed frustration and helplessness after his teenage Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli dominated qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix, leaving the Briton over half a second adrift. The 19-year-old Antonelli secured his sixth pole position of the season with a lap three-tenths faster than nearest rival Max Verstappen, while Russell could only manage fourth place, 0.5 seconds off the pace.
Russell's Struggle Persists
Russell admitted that Mercedes has yet to identify the root cause of his performance deficit, which has been evident since the Austrian Grand Prix. “I thought it was my driving style,” Russell said. “That's what we thought, coming out of Silverstone. We thought it was on the drivers' side, on technique. But we've finally proved that it's not. We've changed everything and I was four tenths down on the straights in Q3. It's frustrating.”
The 27-year-old revealed that the issue has been apparent in every session this weekend. “Every single lap this weekend I've come in and seen myself anywhere from two tenths to four tenths down. In FP2 yesterday it was seven tenths. The team is working so hard to understand what it is. We saw it as early as Austria, actually, we saw signs. But we always thought there was a reason. Sprint qualifying at Silverstone, we saw three-and-a-half tenths' loss, we thought we found the problem.”
Mercedes' Diagnostic Challenges
Russell described a cycle of false diagnoses: “We keep going through this process of, 'We think it's this', we change it, 'Oh it's not this, maybe it's this'. I thought it was the driving style. I came into this weekend and I said on Thursday, 'I think it's the driving style'. But I changed the driving style, and it's not. The team is working super hard to understand what it is.”
Despite the deficit, Russell has closed to within 25 points of Antonelli in the championship, aided by reliability issues affecting the teenager. However, he acknowledged the challenge of competing against his teammate. “Anything can happen but, the truth is, battling against my team-mate who is such an incredible driver and is doing such a great job at the moment, at the best of times is a tall order. I feel confident that, in the head-to-head, I can achieve it. But when it feels like you're battling with one hand behind your back, it's a challenge. We had the issue in Silverstone and ended up in P2 on the podium, so I'll endure the pain, hope for a great result and try to find a solution before next week.”
Antonelli and Verstappen React
Championship leader Antonelli was buoyant after his sixth pole of the season. “It was a nice lap, very clean, so I'm very happy,” the Italian said. “Of course, tomorrow is another day. I have Max starting next to me so it's going to be important to get a good start.”
Verstappen, who qualified second, acknowledged his position was aided by a tow from teammate Isack Hadjar. “It was also the difference between P2 and P6, because we're unfortunately a bit slow on the straights,” Verstappen admitted. He added that Antonelli would likely pass him on the straights during the race.
Lando Norris, who set the third-fastest time but will start 13th due to a grid penalty for exceeding his engine part allowance, described his lap as “probably one of the best laps I've ever done in qualifying. So yeah, very happy to be P3. It's a shame it doesn't matter for tomorrow because I'm starting P13 now. For the package that we have, to be P3 is pretty amazing. So I'm happy, very pleased.”
