Watching your teammate produce an entirely different level of performance—especially at your home race—is never easy to accept. That is exactly the situation George Russell has found himself in throughout the British Grand Prix weekend. While Kimi Antonelli has been fighting at the front, the British driver has struggled to match the pace and will start Sunday’s race from fourth on the grid, behind both Ferrari drivers.
Following qualifying, Russell repeatedly pointed to one key issue: a lack of straight-line speed. According to the Mercedes driver, that weakness has left him at a significant disadvantage compared to his closest rivals and prevented him from challenging for a better grid position.
George Russell: “I’d never had a lock-up like that in 12 years at Silverstone”
While everything went according to plan on Antonelli’s side of the Mercedes garage, Russell’s qualifying session became complicated almost immediately. During his first run in Q1, he locked up under braking for Luffield, ran into the gravel, and came dangerously close to compromising both his qualifying session and his entire weekend.
“Something strange happened. I had a lock-up, and that’s never happened to me at that corner in the 12 years I’ve been racing at Silverstone,” Russell told Sky Sport after the session. “But in Q2 and Q3 I felt much better. Throughout the entire weekend, though, I’ve struggled to find straight-line speed. This morning we thought we had identified the cause of the problem, but that wasn’t the case because it showed up again in qualifying. If you look at my top speed, it’s much lower than the other Mercedes-powered cars, and that has made my life much more difficult.”
Asked whether victory at his home Grand Prix was still realistic, Russell remained cautious.
“Honestly, I don’t think so. But I do think Ferrari can be beaten because we have better race pace. I just need more straight-line speed.”
“I’m slower than every Mercedes-powered car. It feels like I’m driving with more downforce”
Russell expanded further on the issue while speaking to the media after qualifying at Silverstone.
“I’ve been losing speed on the straights all weekend,” he explained.
The speed trap data appears to support his claim, with the British driver consistently ranking towards the bottom of the top-speed charts: “Yesterday in Q3 I lost almost three tenths on the straights. Today in qualifying it was three km/h in the middle sector and six km/h in the final sector compared to my teammate and the McLarens.”
The Mercedes driver admitted he still cannot fully explain the cause of the deficit.
“The energy deployment seems to be working properly. I’m simply lacking straight-line speed. It feels like I’m driving a car with more downforce, and yesterday’s speed trap figures were exactly the same as today’s. I probably wouldn’t have been on pole anyway, but I certainly would have been higher up the grid and I would have had a better race ahead of me. Maybe if I’d been in front during Q1 or on the first run in Q3, it would have changed my mindset. Going into today I already felt I was at a disadvantage, but tomorrow I’ll do everything I can to fight for a podium.”
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