Mercedes F1 team explain George Russell's awful Hungarian Grand Prix start

Mercedes

Mercedes explain George Russell's awful Hungarian Grand Prix start

Russell has endured an awful run of bad luck in 2026

By Vincent Bruins.

Wednesday 29 July 2026 19:41

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Mercedes F1 team have released a statement explaining what went wrong for George Russell after the British driver was struck down by bad luck yet again at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Russell’s race at the Hungaroring got off to a dismal start on Sunday after the 28-year-old who started P6 tumbled down the order immediately after the lights went out.

Team principal Toto Wolff was quick to stress that all the trouble with the start was down to the team’s technical shortcomings—and he’s had enough.

Article continues under video

Starting from the third row on the grid, Russell experienced what Dutch commentator Olav Mol fondly described as a 'disastrous start,' which pushed him all the way to the back.

Moments later, Russell reached out over Mercedes team radio for an explanation. His race engineer, Marcus Dudley, simply replied: "Anti-stall."

Although Russell admitted he was aware of the system, he wondered if he had dialled in the right settings.

Dudley later went into further detail, adding: "The clutch was two percentage points under-engaged, but it really was the throttle—you eased off too early at high revs." Russell noted that the engine speeds then quickly spiralled out of control.

Mercedes clear Russell of Hungarian GP blame

As Russell jetted off to enjoy his summer break as soon as possible after the 11th round of the championship, Mercedes have taken to the team's official social media pages to give a full technical explanation of what went wrong for the driver who now sits third in the championship.

Bradley Lord, Mercedes’ deputy team principal, provided further details on the incident.

He explained that drivers are required to maintain a specific rev range, the so-called 'wait revs', before the start.

In a video posted by Mercedes, Lord began: "We've had quite a few questions about what happened to George at the start. What we all saw was that he got anti-stall off the line, and that dropped him to the back of the field. The question is why?"

He then gave a full explanation over the issue, saying: "As the drivers wait for the start, they hold what are called their wait revs, so the engine’s RPM, at a specific level. As George was doing that, the revs actually rose out of proportion to what he was asking for from the throttle.

"The revs hit the rev limiter at the maximum RPM that the engine allows at that point, and then George tried to get it back under control to optimise and control his start.

"He wasn’t able to do so, and as he was lifting right off the throttle to under 10 per cent of throttle demand, the lights went out."

Lord emphasised that while this deprived Russell of the necessary power off the line, the fault cannot be placed on the driver. "So he made a start with effectively much too little throttle through no fault of his own. That meant the anti-stall kicked in, so he dropped to the back of the field," he concluded.

He went on to praise Russell for the momentous damage control he then did throughout the race, overtaking many of his rivals to cross the line in seventh.

Both Antonelli and Russell have battled against Mercedes' reliability issues in 2026

What did Wolff say about Russell's anti-stall issue in Hungary?

Wolff also came to Russell’s defence, even though the Brit currently trails his 19-year-old team-mate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli by 59 points.

"The problem at the start was entirely our responsibility as a team, and it simply isn’t acceptable," the Austrian F1 boss stated firmly.

He expressed his frustration with the ongoing technical issues impacting Russell's 2026 campaign, adding: "He’s had too many problems like this. We are doing everything we can to fix them, but unfortunately, it’s yet another issue that has cost him dearly."

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Written by

Vincent Bruins - Redacteur GPFans NL

Vincent Bruins (29) is een Nederlandse Formule 1-redacteur met vier jaar ervaring in de F1-journalistiek. Hij heeft meer dan tien jaar ervaring als redacteur en content creator in de GT-racerij. Hij duikt graag in de technische en sportieve reglementen. Zo weet Vincent alle ins en outs op het gebied van bijvoorbeeld de techniek van F1-bolides en straffen. Tevens schrijft hij bij GPFans columns.

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F1 Mercedes George Russell 2026 regulations Hungarian Grand Prix Hungaroring