George Russell/Mercedes: A stuttering start in Hungary – what went wrong?

Shortly after the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix, George Russell’s fans rubbed their eyes in disbelief: hang on, how on earth did the Briton manage to drop from P6 to P19?

Bradley Lord, Mercedes’ deputy team principal, commented on the unusual incident in his post-race analysis. Lord said of Russell: “Whilst the drivers are waiting for the start, they maintain what is known as the ‘idle speed’, which is a specific engine revs. When George did this, the revs rose disproportionately compared to what he was demanding via the accelerator pedal.”

“The revs reached the rev limiter at the maximum speed the engine allows at that point, and George then tried to regain control to optimise and manage his start. He was unable to do so, and when he took his foot off the accelerator pedal, causing throttle response to fall below 10 per cent, the lights on the starting signal went out at that very moment.”

“For this reason, he started with far too little throttle, and this triggered the so-called anti-stall system – the safety mechanism designed to prevent the engine from stalling due to low revs.”

Lord praises him: “After that, George staged an incredible comeback. He overtook the cars in front of him one by one and then also had some bad luck with the timing of the virtual safety car at the end of the race. It came out one lap after his second pit stop.”

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“Had he been able to capitalise on that and get a ‘free’ pit stop, so to speak, under the VSC, he would have finished higher up than seventh.”