Mercedes' assistant technical director Simone Resta admitted that after George Russell lost time to teammate Kimi Antonelli on the straights at Spa-Francorchamps, the team was struggling to understand each source of their energy distribution gap. Russell finished fourth in Belgian GP qualifying, while Antonelli took pole position.
Changing driving style did not completely solve the problem.
The problem first manifested itself at Silverstone; significant differences in energy distribution emerged between the two Mercedes cars. Following Silverstone, the team's analysis concluded that one of the main reasons for the difference was the divergence in the driving styles of the two drivers. Based on this finding, Russell changed his throttle application and driving style before Spa; however, the energy gap on the straight sections was not completely closed.
Speaking to Motorsport.com after qualifying, Russell stated that he had dedicated the last 36 hours solely to the straight-line speed issue: “You’re watching from the steering wheel, you’re losing speed on the straight at full throttle. You feel helpless. We don’t know what it is. I don’t think it’s the power unit, obviously. But there’s something that’s slowing us down on the straights.” Russell added that he lost another second and a half in the final acceleration section compared to his previous overtake.
Resta summarized the situation as follows: “George has worked on this quite a lot and changed and adapted his driving style going into Spa. However, we can still see the difference in distribution between the two cars. We are working with a new set of regulations and this is only the 10th race under these regulations; we are still struggling to understand each contribution.” Resta stated that other teams are in the same situation and that they aim to find the root cause of the problem before the Hungarian GP.
A software error left both cars without power after the start.
Another factor that prematurely ended Russell's race was a separate software malfunction, not directly related to his driving style. Resta confirmed that both Mercedes cars reached their energy collection limit exiting Turn 1, and therefore had no electrical energy left to distribute on the Kemmel Straight. Both Russell and Antonelli lost speed on this straight after a good start; however, Russell paid the price. Two Ferraris following behind him overtook him at Kemmel, setting the stage for contact with Lewis Hamilton at Turn 5. This contact retired Russell from the race.
Resta stated, “Essentially, we had a software issue with both cars; this caused us to reach the collection limit at Turn 1. Therefore, both cars experienced a power increase problem from Turn 1 to Turn 5.” Mercedes plans to resolve both the root of the energy distribution gap and the software-related start issue before the Hungarian GP.