After several races in which fortune had kept George Russell alive in the Formula 1 world championship, luck has deserted the Englishman at Spa-Francorchamps. Russell had to retire after Lewis Hamilton struck him at the start, but he is not angry with his compatriot.
Russell vented on the radio against his team over yet more battery issues that slowed him on the straight, leaving him at Hamilton’s mercy. In front of the press, Russell also did not hold back. He revealed that his car is slower on the straight than Kimi Antonelli’s. Toto Wolff, Mercedes’ boss, did not hesitate to respond.
Toto Wolff responds to Russell: “Part of the blame lies in your driving”
Despite having been noticeably weaker than Antonelli throughout the year, Russell arrived at Spa just 25 points behind the world leader, fully in the championship fight. But the speculations have been blown away after his crash with Hamilton, which combined with Antonelli’s victory leaves him again 50 points behind.
Russell has exploded. On the radio he shouted that it is “unacceptable to reach the straights without battery”. Russell blames his Mercedes engine for having dropped positions after the start, which left him at the mercy of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari at Les Combes, when in reality Russell had been quite a bit ahead of his countryman.
In front of the microphones, Russell has revealed why he is so far from Antonelli in competitive terms this season: “I can’t fight for the victory with my teammate in a fair battle. Right now things aren’t fair. I lose almost four tenths on the straights. It’s the same as what happened at Silverstone,” explains Russell.
Recordemos que Russell acaba contrato con Mercedes esta misma temporada, y la relación parece que se va tensando cada vez más conforme pasan las carreras. El año pasado Russell machacó a Antonelli, pero de repente con el nuevo cambio de reglamento es el italiano quien domina. Si la tensión crece, ese contrato podría no llegar a renovarse nunca.
De hecho, Toto Wolff, jefe de Mercedes, ha respondido a las palabras de Russell. El austriaco ha salido al paso de las insinuaciones de su piloto explicando que “una parte del problema está en su conducción”, aunque hasta Wolff ha tenido que admitir que “probablemente el motor también está dando fallos”. Las telemetrías hablan por sí mismas.
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Now Mercedes will have to decide if, after the summer break, they implement a change to Russell’s engine so that the internal fight returns to being fair.
Images | Mercedes
