George Russell revealed he will meet with Mercedes to examine the team’s Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix performance, one that he called the “worst” of the season.
The Briton came home in a distant fifth place at Spa-Francorchamps, having qualified sixth, 35 seconds down on Oscar Piastri’s race-winning McLaren.
Changeable conditions and cooler temperatures have often been beneficial to the German marque’s this season, but that wasn’t the case on this particular weekend.
Despite the team bringing upgrades to the front wing and rear corner, the W16 couldn’t sufficiently challenge those ahead, leaving Russell bemused by its regression.
“The performance, we need to really understand what is going on and why we’ve taken such a step backwards because these conditions today, you would argue, are ideal for us and our car,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“And once again, it’s been the worst performance of the season. So, yeah, we’re going to have a big sit-down this week and try and figure it out.”
Russell cites FIA technical directive as turning point
When asked what the reasons for the dip in form are, Russell pinpointed the initial front wing changes brought about by the FIA’s technical directives on flexibility.
“Well, I think, obviously, we had the change of the front wing in Barcelona,” he addressed.
“We then brought… we went in a slightly different direction afterwards to sort of tackle the issue of the change of front wing.
“And clearly, since that point, we’ve taken a big step backwards. So, it could be as simple as just reverting back to something that we had earlier in the season.
“Of course, you can’t do that with the front wing, but in terms of the rest of the set-up. But I don’t know, it seems quite strange how we’ve gone so far backwards.”
Russell explained the W16 has become much harder to drive, causing himself and team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who also struggled at Spa, to make mistakes through overdriving.
He stated the car “isn’t feeling as nice to drive at the moment as it once did”, adding that it “lacks rear stability, whereas at the start of the year it was much better.
“I think Kimi and I are collectively making more mistakes because the car is more challenging to drive,” he continued.
“So, yeah, we need to sit down as a team. As I say, it may be as simple as reversing back like some of the changes we’ve made. But, in F1, it’s never that simple.”
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