George Russell 'wants answers' from Mercedes as F1 paranoia builds

George Russell looks sad on the phone — Photo: © IMAGO

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George Russell 'wants answers' from Mercedes as F1 paranoia builds

Russell was at a loss to understand his Mercedes F1 car last time out

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Thursday 23 July 2026 10:56

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Mercedes F1 star George Russell is understood to be desperate to find answers to his lack of pace to teenage team-mate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli.

During last weekend's F1 race in Spa, Russell was taken out by seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap.

The crash left Hamilton with a five-second time penalty and robbed Russell of the chance to fight for championship points which are vital at this stage in the campaign.

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The cruel irony for the Brit was that Hamilton went on to cross the line in fourth, meaning he picked up enough points to send himself straight up the drivers' standings into P2, dropping Russell down to P3.

Antonelli only extended his lead at the Belgian GP, taking the victory and doubling the advantage he had over Russell heading into the weekend.

But with such a quick turnaround for this weekend's race at the Hungaroring, Russell could be at risk of paranoia creeping into his mind over where Toto Wolff's priorities lie.

Russell needs to know Mercedes battery issue will not happen again

Following the crash with Hamilton on the opening lap of last Sunday's race, Russell was quick to rule it out as a racing incident.

Instead, he was more concerned with the fact that he suffered from a battery issue that meant he had no speed on the straights and left him fighting with Hamilton for a track position he felt he should have been well clear of.

His team principal on the other hand maintained that the incident could have happened to anyone regardless of where they were on the track and Mercedes have since confirmed that both cars suffered a software bug in Spa, not just Russell's.

In an episode of the Sky Sports F1 Show podcast ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, former F1 driver-turned pundit Karun Chandhok assessed the fallout from Russell's crash, saying: "Mercedes want both drivers winning races. They want both drivers finishing first and second in every race. So it's in their interest to support him [Russell], help him and try and get the best result for the team."

Turning his attention to this weekend's race and even those that come in quick succession across Europe after the summer break, Chandhok warned that Mercedes need to rule out the issue happening on Russell's car again, or else the 28-year-old might start to get the wrong idea about an uneven playing field.

"I think what needs to happen now is an element of confidence rebuilding between them. You know clearly George wants answers, right?" Chandhok continued.

"He wants to know why this carried on throughout the Saturday and in fact we heard him say all weekend. So, we don't know what the problem was on Friday or practice, but he needs to know that they’ve found the problem and this is not going to happen again.

"Now, the next two circuits we're going to are the opposite in terms of they’re energy rich tracks. You know, I think we're going to see some proper flatout qualifying in Budapest and in Zandvoort, which is great. We want to see that after Spa, but this could happen again at Monza.

“So he really wants to know that they found an issue, they've resolved the issue, and you need to get this paranoia out of your head that you are at a deficit.”

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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 Toto Wolff Sky Sports F1