Wolff Admits Mercedes Let Russell Down at Belgian Grand Prix After Hamilton Clash

Toto Wolff, the Mercedes principal, has admitted the team let George Russell down at the Belgian Grand Prix. The British driver failed to score a point after a clash with Lewis Hamilton that Russell attributed to his car’s performance not being up to scratch.

The race was won by Kimi Antonelli, who now leads his teammate Russell by 50 points in the world championship, a serious blow to the latter’s title hopes.

Russell was clipped by Hamilton on the opening lap, sending him off into the gravel and ending his race. Russell said it had been a racing incident but insisted he would not have been alongside Hamilton but for his Mercedes failing to deploy sufficient power on the run to the Les Combes corner. Russell had been outspoken all weekend about a deficiency in electrical energy deployment and felt it had been hugely costly, which Wolff addressed.

“We had an issue on all Mercedes engines that we lacked the power out on the straights,” Wolff said. “That bit him [Russell] badly and it goes 100% on us.

“George has 100% our support. George had a difficult weekend. Half of it is to be attributed to the power unit that wasn’t as good as it should have been and the other half may be on the driving. But we are in this together, we all make mistakes, today is the mistake of the team and another day is going to be the driver. We just need to minimise it and support each other.”

Russell said the result had left him numb with disappointment, while insisting he felt he should not have been competing for the corner with the Ferraris, who had swept past him on the Kemmel straight. Wolff said he understood his driver’s strong reaction.

“It’s completely understandable that the moment you’re out of the race, it’s so frustrating and the emotions boil,” he said. “We are trying to solve the issues, he’s doing everything he can to get on top of his driving. I’m going to try to put my arm around him.”

Hamilton was found by the stewards to be culpable and given a five-second penalty, but he too felt it was only a racing incident and that he would speak to Russell about it.

“I was in the position where George obviously looked like he lost power and then he swooped around the outside and just had a small coming together,” he said. “I will text George later on. The last thing you ever want to do is come together with your teammate or with your old team who you highly respect.”