George Russell finished seventh in the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix, but that was after having to work his way through the field after being handed yet another chunk of bad luck.
The Brit lined up sixth at the Hungaroring, having benefitted from teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s three-place grid penalty after qualifying.
But at lights out, the Mercedes driver was thwarted by his W17’s engine going into anti-stall, sending him tumbling down the order.
Russell was able to use the car’s grunt and his own considerable nous to work his way through the pack to finish just one place below his starting position.
But Antonelli gained three places during the race and finished third, ensuring his lead in the Drivers’ Championship stretches to a 50-point lead over second-placed Lewis Hamilton, and a further nine points ahead of Russell.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the race, Russell explained his startline woe, adding he is hoping for a redressing of the balance of luck when F1 resumes in Zandvoort next month.
“I was on the throttle waiting, then all of a sudden, the engine was going all over the place. It was revving really high and really low,” he said.
“Add it to the list of things that have happened in the first half of this year and pray things calm down in the second half.”
George Russell signals positivity: ‘Keep on pushing’
Russell took an opening-race victory in Melbourne, but since then, fortune has not been kind to the British driver, with a win in Austria the only respite in between.
Antonelli has managed to extract from the W17, and his own share of bad luck has been the prevention from an even bigger points gap to Russell.
But he added that he will be holding onto a positive mindset to try and close the deficit to his Italian counterpart and keep in the hunt for his first World Championship triumph.
“I’m staying positive,” he said. “I’ve gone through being so disappointed with everything that’s happened in the first half of the year.
“At one point you need to pick yourself up and accept there are a lot of things out of your control that may work against you.
“There are things in my control I need to do better and I will continue to work on that but of course I’m not happy with how things have gone, but I’m going to stay positive and keep on pushing.”
Russell will need to remind himself of the points deficit both Lando Norris and Max Verstappen had against Oscar Piastri at this point in time last year, and both men managed to overturn them, finishing first and second in the standings.
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