Toto Wolff, the Mercedes principal, has admitted the team let George Russell down at the Belgian Grand Prix after a power unit issue led to a first-lap crash with Lewis Hamilton. Russell, who failed to score a point, now trails teammate Kimi Antonelli by 50 points in the world championship.
Crash and power loss
Russell was clipped by Hamilton on the opening lap, sending him into the gravel and ending his race. Russell called it a racing incident but insisted he would not have been alongside Hamilton if his Mercedes had deployed sufficient power on the run to Les Combes corner. He had been outspoken all weekend about a deficiency in electrical energy deployment.
Wolff acknowledged the issue: "We had an issue on all Mercedes engines that we lacked the power out on the straights. That bit him [Russell] badly and it goes 100% on us." He added: "George has 100% our support. George had a difficult weekend. Half of it is to be attributed to the power unit that wasn't as good as it should have been and the other half may be on the driving. But we are in this together, we all make mistakes, today is the mistake of the team and another day is going to be the driver. We just need to minimise it and support each other."
Title race impact
The race was won by Kimi Antonelli, who now leads Russell by 50 points in the standings, a serious blow to the British driver's title hopes. Russell said the result left him "numb with disappointment" and felt he should not have been competing for the corner with Ferraris, who swept past him on the Kemmel straight. Wolff understood his driver's reaction: "It's completely understandable that the moment you're out of the race, it's so frustrating and the emotions boil. We are trying to solve the issues, he's doing everything he can to get on top of his driving. I'm going to try to put my arm around him."
Stewards' decision
Hamilton was found culpable by the stewards and given a five-second penalty, but he also felt it was a racing incident. "I was in the position where George obviously looked like he lost power and then he swooped around the outside and just had a small coming together," Hamilton said. "I will text George later on. The last thing you ever want to do is come together with your teammate or with your old team who you highly respect."
