George Russell after crash with Lewis Hamilton: “That’s what annoys me the most”

At Silverstone, George Russell was still the lucky one, even though he hadn’t managed to win the race at his home circuit. Yet he crossed the line behind winner Charles Leclerc – and his Mercedes team-mate and fiercest rival in the title race came away empty-handed after being set back by bad luck.

In Belgium, however, Kimi Antonelli made amends, securing the sixth Grand Prix victory of his career and thereby extending his lead in the World Championship once again. Russell, on the other hand, had to swallow another bitter pill. A crash with his former team-mate Lewis Hamilton knocked him out of the race. As a result, he now trails his own team-mate by 50 points once again. The fact that the Ferrari star received a five-second time penalty for the collision was little consolation for the Briton; after all, the penalty also saw him slip from second to third in the provisional World Championship standings – and thus behind Hamilton.

After the retirement, the visibly frustrated Mercedes star sighed: “I got off to a good start, got through the first corner well and was right behind Max Verstappen, but for some reason the battery decided not to recharge after the first hairpin, and I was left with 35 per cent less energy.”

Russell also reported further engine issues: “I had a problem with the boost; the turbo wasn’t working properly, so I had zero per cent battery power by the time I reached the top of Eau Rouge. To be honest, that was just plain dangerous. I was overtaken by three cars and shouldn’t have got into that situation in the first place – that’s what annoys me the most.”

George Russell: No hard feelings towards Lewis Hamilton

Commenting on the crash with Hamilton, the 28-year-old said: “In my opinion, that was quite clearly a normal racing incident; he didn’t do it on purpose. Of course, the blame lay more with him, but he didn’t do anything reckless – it was simply one of those incidents.”

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“I’m just most annoyed that I got into this situation in the first place. I was in an excellent position after the first corner and ready to battle against the two in front of me right up to the fifth corner. Instead, I was overtaken by three drivers,” lamented Russell, adding: “I’ve become a bit desensitised to the disappointments in this year’s races. When it happens so often, you get used to it.”