[Saba Sports News] George Russell has now ruled out his driving style as the cause of his pace deficit to teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Following qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver stated clearly that he and the team have eliminated this possibility, concluding there are “serious underlying issues” with his car. In qualifying, Russell finished 0.508 seconds adrift of pole-sitter Antonelli. Russell previously drew a comparison between copying his teammate’s driving technique and an impossible task: “It’s like someone asking you to paint the Mona Lisa with the original hanging right in front of you — could you replicate it instantly?” But his assessment shifted entirely after qualifying. The substantial straight-line speed gap made it impossible for him to pin the performance shortfall on his own inputs. He explained: “I lose an eighth of a second on the straights, and a quarter of a second over one lap today. We were heading in the right direction, and we thought we’d pinpointed the problem starting from Silverstone. First we suspected the brakes, yet that was not the root cause. Then I convinced myself it came down to my driving style, particularly my throttle application. Now we are fully certain driving style is not the factor at play; there is a severe mechanical flaw impacting performance, and the team is working relentlessly to resolve it.”
This data reveals a gap in top speed between the two Mercedes cars that cannot be explained by driver inputs alone. The discrepancy may stem from the interplay of chassis dynamics, driving styles and the energy characteristics of the new power units under the 2026 technical regulations. With relatively limited energy storage capacity in the car’s battery, drivers who bleed excessive speed through corners and then rely on extra electrical power to make up ground will suffer performance losses in the latter sector of the lap as battery energy depletes. At present, both Russell and Mercedes are working to identify the root cause.