George Russell branded his Belgian Grand Prix weekend as "not good enough" after the Mercedes driver was eliminated on the opening lap following a collision with Lewis Hamilton at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Briton started third for Sunday's 44-lap race, with teammate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli on pole position and Max Verstappen alongside him on the front row. However, Russell suffered a significant battery deficit coming out of Turn 1 that compromised his race even before the incident.
"I came out of Turn 1, for whatever reason I was 30-40% down on my battery and I just got totally swamped by three cars," Russell explained, acknowledging the frustration of being forced to defend rather than attack.
Overtaken by Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton along the Kemmel Straight, Russell attempted to go around the outside of Hamilton into Les Combes, one of the most iconic corners on the Belgian circuit. The pair made contact through the right-left sequence, sending the number 63 Mercedes into the gravel and out of the race. Race stewards handed Hamilton a five-second penalty for the incident, but for Russell the race was already over.
"The incident with Lewis, I've not really seen it. I thought it was probably a racing incident. I'm not going to blame Lewis," Russell said with sportsmanship. "If things were normal, I wouldn't have been battling with Lewis, I would have been battling with Kimi and Max ahead."
Russell arrived at Spa 25 points behind Antonelli in the Drivers' Championship, and his difficult situation has worsened after this early retirement. The gap now risks widening further in what is already an uphill battle for the Briton.
"It's one thing after another, after another, after another," he commented bitterly. "Not good enough on all regards. Try and reset again, done it enough times this season and see what we can do."
Russell will now need to try and reverse his fortunes from the next race, knowing that the margin for error is shrinking race by race.
Sources
- Formula 1: "Not good enough" – Russell reflects on Belgian GP after first lap retirement
