George Russell told to ditch Mercedes F1 simulator - 'Sniff the air'

Mercedes

George Russell told to ditch Mercedes simulator - 'Sniff the air'

Russell is struggling to find answers to his lack of pace at Mercedes

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Tuesday 21 July 2026 21:44

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Mercedes F1 star George Russell has been handed some harsh words of wisdom following a Belgian Grand Prix to forget.

The British racer faced the cameras on Sunday much earlier than the rest of the pack having crashed out of the 44-lap race on lap one after colliding with Lewis Hamilton at Turn 5.

Hamilton continued his race to cross the line P4 on Sunday, sending him up the championship standings into P2, overtaking Russell.

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When the 28-year-old headed to the media pen immediately after the crash, he appeared to be holding back tears, telling Sky Sports F1's Craig Slater: "The incident shouldn't have happened if I had the speed down the straight..I'm very, very disappointed.

"I appreciate everyone's working hard to solve the problem, but you know I'm stood here on lap five of the race, and felt like I was in a good position to fight for the lead into turn one, and then suddenly no power, and it's all gone."

Russell maintained throughout the following media sessions that after struggling in Spa, he has now ruled out his driving style being the issue, though team principal Toto Wolff was less keen to do so.

"These things can happen, whether you're in the front, in the middle, or the back of the pack," Wolff said about Russell's unfortunate collision.

"George had a difficult weekend. Probably half of it is to be attributed to the power unit that wasn't as good as it should have been on his side, and the other the other side maybe on the driving."

Windsor: Russell must focus on himself to get over Mercedes issues

Mercedes and Russell now have the unenviable task of attempting to unpack the boost issue Russell spoke of in Spa in just a matter of days, with the European double header continuing with this weekend's Hungarian GP.

The problems Russell spoke of after his incident with Hamilton are unlikely to be fixed in time for his return to the Hungaroring, and former F1 team manager and analyst Peter Windsor thinks the Brit should completely switch off from his Mercedes simulator preparation instead.

Speaking in a clip which was posted to social media following the Belgian GP, Windsor questioned Russell's claims of dealing with a boost issue last weekend despite the Brit clearly struggling with a lack of pace compared to his rivals on the straights.

When Windsor was reminded just how far behind Kimi Antonelli George Russell was during practice in Spa, Windsor said: "But you know what he said about that? He said, 'We overestimated the grip [on the track in the sim].

"Well, you know, don't use the sim as much then. Think about it. Spa, it does rain. The track goes green. You know, these things happen. Go there with an open mind.

"It's the same with Oscar [Piastri]. You know, as I said last year, and I've been saying this, he's completely lost because of the telemetry they keep using and the sims they keep doing. And that's that's the great pitfall."

Windsor then suggested Russell should focus on himself moving forwards and not get distracted with the data of his championship leading team-mate, saying: "You think Kimi spends a massive amount of time looking at George's telemetry? Exactly.

"He's a young kid getting out there and he's sniffing the air and getting in the race car and feeling the surface of the road and driving it. That's what he needs. That's what George needs to learn from Kimi.

"Go back to square one and just do that."

Abandoning the use of the simulator is of course something that seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton has had to do this season at Ferrari to find the answers to his own issues.

Since the 41-year-old stopped relying on Ferrari's simulator, he has won his first grand prix in red and jumped up to P2 in the standings, so perhaps Russell should take a leaf out of his former team-mate's book to regain his own place in the title fight.

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Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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F1 Mercedes George Russell Kimi Antonelli Peter Windsor