A botched start to the Spa weekend: is George Russell lagging behind?

In both free practice sessions on Friday, Kimi Antonelli was the faster of the two Mercedes drivers. In the first session, the Italian championship leader had to settle for the sixth-fastest time. His team-mate George Russell was just under three-tenths of a second slower and finished in eighth place.

In the afternoon, the teenager from Bologna stepped up a gear and lapped the 7.004 km circuit in 1:45.944. This made him the fastest on the grid. Russell, however, was only the eighth-fastest, a full 1.285 seconds off his team-mate’s fastest time of the day. What was going on?

Chief track engineer Andrew Shovlin explains: “In the first practice session, grip was lower than expected, which is why the car lacked downforce in the first hour. The drivers struggled with a difficult balance and therefore didn’t have the necessary confidence in the car to set the best possible lap time.”

“However, both George and Kimi coped well with the tricky car and showed us a good direction for the second practice session,” said the Briton, praising his protégés. “The changes we made between the sessions were successful and the car was significantly better set up in the second practice session.”

“Kimi set the fastest time on a single lap on the soft tyres, and although George finished the day in eighth place, this doesn’t reflect what he’s capable of. He only had one attempt, and we can see several areas where he can still gain time over the course of the weekend,” said Shovlin, explaining the significant difference between the two drivers’ times.

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Looking at the competition, the engineer also noted: “As in recent races, the balance of power looks very close. Our aim is always to get both cars right up the front. We looked quite decent on the long runs, and race pace is by far the most important factor at Spa.”