SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium -- George Russell’s championship chances took another blow at the Belgian Grand Prix after a collision with Lewis Hamilton saw him retire from the race on the opening lap.
The British driver, who has now dropped to third place in the standings and 50 points behind Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli, said he no longer felt emotional about such a setback.
“I’m numb to the disappointment now,” Russell said. “When it happens so often, you just get used to it.”
Russell started Sunday’s race from third on the grid, but lost positions on the opening lap to Oscar Piastri and Hamilton on the Kemmel Straight before trying to reclaim the places under braking for Les Combes.
Russell was on the outside of Hamilton heading into the chicane, only for Hamilton’s Ferrari to briefly lose grip and clip the rear of the Mercedes.
The contact pitched Russell’s car into a spin before it became beached in the gravel on the outside of the corner.
The stewards gave Hamilton a five-second penalty for causing the collision, although Russell believed it was a “racing incident.”
Speaking in the aftermath of the incident, Russell said his power unit’s battery had failed to charge under braking for Turn 1, leaving him down on power when the cars entered the long Kemmel Straight to Les Combes.
“I made a good start, I made a great first corner and I was tucked up right behind Verstappen [in second place],” he said. “But for whatever reason the battery decided not to recharge at Turn 1, so I went around the first corner, the battery didn’t charge and I exited the first corner 35% down [on battery charge].
“And because of that, because it didn’t charge and I also had a boost problem, the turbo didn’t sort itself out, so I had no power. I got to the top of Eau Rouge with 0% on the battery -- quite frankly it was dangerous -- and I got swamped by three cars.
“I shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place, that’s why I’m most angry. With Lewis, honestly, I think was a racing incident.”
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Russell had struggled for performance throughout the Belgian Grand Prix weekend relative to teammate Antonelli, saying he was “frustrated” after qualifying to lose significant time on the straights in the final sector of his lap.
His lack of straight-line speed was not fully understood by Mercedes after qualifying, but appears to be linked to the way electrical power is deployed around the lap.
“I appreciate everyone’s working hard to solve the problem, but, you know, I’m stood here [speaking to media] on lap 5 of the race,” Russell said on Sunday. “I felt like I was in a good position to fight for the lead up to Turn 1, and then suddenly no power and it’s all gone.”
Antonelli went on to win Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix, extending his lead at the top of the championship.
Hamilton finished in fourth following his five-second penalty, but the 12 points he secured moved him back ahead of Russell to become Antonelli’s closest competitor -- 45 points adrift.
Russell had started to close the gap to Antonelli in the championship at recent races following a victory in Austria and a second-place finish at the British Grand Prix when his teammate dropped out of the points with damage to his Mercedes.
Antonelli also missed out on a likely second-place finish in Spain when his car suffered a battery issue a handful of laps from the finish, dropping a potential 18 points.
The brief swing in fortune towards Russell between Spain and Silverstone followed a period of bad luck earlier in the season, including a retirement from the lead of the Canadian Grand Prix with a battery issue of his own.
