George Russell lets loose with strong words about Mercedes in a rant that Sky F1 viewers didn’t catch.
George Russell had a pretty heated outburst that wasn’t shown on Sky Sports F1 after crashing out of the Belgian Grand Prix. He didn’t hold back, blaming a power problem for his first-lap crash at Spa.
Russell’s race was over almost immediately when he crashed just seconds after the start. The Mercedes driver was side-by-side with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton going into Les Combes. Russell was just a bit ahead as they neared the corner, but Hamilton got clipped and wobbled because of a battle between Kimi Antonelli, Max Verstappen, and Charles Leclerc in front of them.
Russell, who had started third, spun into the gravel and was out of the race. Hamilton received a five-second penalty for causing the crash, but Russell didn’t blame his old Mercedes teammate when chatting with Sky Sports after the race.
Right after the crash, Russell’s radio message — filled with colorful language — showed just how frustrated he was with Mercedes. “I’m out,” he said. “What the heck happened with the battery down the straight? I had no battery at all. This whole weekend has been unacceptable.”
Talking more about the crash, Russell told reporters: “I’m used to the disappointment now because it happens so often. For some reason, the battery didn’t recharge at Turn 1. I went around, and the battery was 35% down. Because of that, I had a boost problem with the turbo, so I had no power. By the time I got to Eau Rouge, the battery was completely empty. Honestly, it was dangerous.”
He added, “I got passed by three cars, which shouldn’t have happened if I had power. That’s what I’m most mad about. About Lewis, I think it was just a racing incident. No one was reckless — just one of those things. I was in a great spot after Turn 1 and ready to fight the two cars ahead, but I ended up getting swamped.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was quick to accept responsibility after the race, saying the problem was “100%” the team’s fault, not Russell’s. He explained that the Mercedes engines lost power on the straight, which hurt their performance a lot.
Wolff said, “The power unit is super complex with how you harvest and deploy energy. We have a strong car and engine, but we’re still working to fix some reliability issues. During the weekend, we found something wrong with George’s engine that gave him less energy to use in Turn 18. It showed clearly here, and it would have been harder to spot at Budapest.”
Despite Russell’s tough day, Mercedes can still celebrate Kimi Antonelli’s sixth win of the season. The Italian driver extended his lead over Hamilton to 55 points ahead of next week’s Hungarian Grand Prix.