After a disastrous start to the weekend for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team—marked by poor performances in both qualifying and the Sprint race, with neither driver finishing in the points—the main race at the Belgian Grand Prix offered at least a small positive outcome, particularly for George Russell. Starting from sixth on the grid, just behind Williams driver Alexander Albon, the British driver managed to finish the race in fifth place, overtaking Albon and securing what was ultimately the best result the team could hope for under the circumstances.
Despite the result, George Russell made it clear that the outcome brought little satisfaction, especially after a weekend plagued by lack of pace and underwhelming performance across the board at the historic Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Reflecting on the race, the British driver explained, “Fifth place was the absolute maximum we could achieve today. Our pace wasn’t strong enough compared to our usual rivals, and that left us in a lonely race just trying to defend that position. It’s frustrating to be in that situation, but that’s the reality of our weekend. Overall, it was a disappointing few days for us, and we need to quickly analyse what went wrong here at Spa. We have some ideas about where we’ve been losing performance compared to our competitors over the last few races. There’s still one more Grand Prix to go before the summer break, so our goal is to fix things in Budapest next weekend.”
While George Russell at least managed to finish in the top ten and collect some points, his Mercedes team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli had a far more difficult time. The young Italian rookie failed to progress beyond the first qualifying segments—SQ1 on Friday and Q1 on Saturday—and ultimately crossed the finish line in sixteenth position, well outside the points. The Bologna-born driver explained that the team had made setup changes aimed at improving performance in wet conditions, which initially seemed to help: “We decided to change the setup in anticipation of a wet race, and in those early laps it proved to be the right call. The car felt good, and I was able to make a few overtakes and gain some positions.”
However, the track dried quickly, and from that moment on, Antonelli began to struggle: “Once the track dried, we started losing out on the straights compared to some of the cars we were racing. Even though we stayed close, we couldn’t get past them. We tried a different approach with a two-stop strategy, but the result was more or less the same—we ended up stuck behind Esteban Ocon’s Haas for the rest of the race. It’s been a tough weekend here at Spa, but we now have the opportunity to bounce back and come back stronger at the Hungarian Grand Prix. We want to go into the summer break with some positive momentum, and both the team and I are fully focused on that goal.”
The Mercedes team leaves Belgium knowing that improvements are urgently needed as the mid-season point approaches. With one final chance to regain competitiveness before the summer break, all eyes now turn to Budapest, where both George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be looking to turn the tide.
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