George Russell's slow start to the Hungarian Grand Prix was caused by his engine "revving all over the place" just before the lights went out.
The Mercedes driver qualified sixth for Sunday's race but dropped to 21st on the run to the first corner after his car engaged its anti-stall mode as he made his getaway.
He said the problem was caused by a mismatch between his throttle inputs and the amount the engine was revving, which caused the car to bog down when the lights went out and he released the clutch.
"I was on the throttle holding the revs, and then all of a sudden, about four seconds before the lights went out, the engine just started revving all over the place," Russell said. "I was reacting with my throttle, and it was doing nothing. So, the engine wasn't reacting to the throttle."
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff confirmed the erratic behavior of the engine and said Russell's recovery drive to sixth place was the best result possible from that point.
"It seems another problem that happened to George," Wolff said. "It looks like that he gave about 10% throttle and the whole thing revved maximum, he went off the throttle and it bogged down, so I'm really not happy about too many mistakes that happened.
"So that was the reason, and then he drove very well. He went through the traffic easy and then recovered, I think, the maximum points that he could have recovered."
Speaking to the media after the race, Russell repeated a line he has used multiple times this season, saying he is "past the point of disappointment."
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The issue in Hungary followed a problem with the deployment of his electrical energy on the opening lap of last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, which dropped him down the order and resulted in a collision with Lewis Hamilton at the Les Combes chicane.
The two latest issues add to a long list of setbacks in the first half of the season, including a lack of straight-line speed at Silverstone, a drive-through penalty in Monaco for failing to serve a pit lane speeding penalty he should not have received, a power unit failure while leading the race in Canada, and the unfortunate timing of a virtual safety car ruining a shot at victory in Japan.
"If I'm continuing to be disappointed with everything that goes on, I'll just be disappointed every day of the week," Russell added. "So it's sort of like I've got to stay positive.
"Obviously, another technical issue that completely ruined the race, but I can tell you some positives.
"The pace was very strong," he said. "The team said it was as strong as anybody out there, which I haven't had for probably two or three races now, or three races.
"So I'll take positives there, but yeah, it's just unbelievable, the list of things that's happened this season."
