Kimi Antonelli was fantastic, but George Russell spoiled the party: “There are problems”

George Russell was disappointed after being beaten by Andrea Kimi Antonelli in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix. The British driver finished third, more than half a second behind, and continues to insist that there is something wrong with the Mercedes.

“We lacked top speed all weekend, and the same thing that happened at Silverstone happened here too. Ultimately, we have to admit there’s a real problem,” said the Briton.

“We thought it was the brakes, but that wasn’t it. We also considered the underbody; we changed it, but nothing changed—and we looked into other possibilities as well. We lost two-tenths on the straights at Silverstone and thought it was due to driving style, but it wasn’t the driving. Now, in qualifying, I lost four-tenths just on the straights. And on some laps it was even worse.”

“Over the last two race weekends, I lacked speed on the straights, and at Silverstone, we thought we’d figured out why. But then we came here, made those changes, and in Q3 we lost four-tenths—and maybe even a little more. It’s a shame because the lap felt good to me.”

Signs of a possible issue with Russell’s car had already emerged during free practice at the Belgian Grand Prix. In Friday’s first free practice session, with Mercedes appearing to use a conservative engine map, Russell finished eighth, nearly nine-tenths of a second behind Verstappen. In the second free practice session, the situation hadn’t improved significantly: the Briton finished eighth again, this time 1.285 seconds behind his teammate Antonelli, who had set the session’s fastest time.