27/07/2025 20:00
George Russell has stated Mercedes' performance at the Belgian
Grand Prix was its worst of the season to date. Russell ended the
race in fifth place, over half a minute down on race-winner Oscar
Piastri. Team-mate Kimi Antonelli endured an even tougher time as
he had to settle for 16th on the road after a challenging
qualifying session on Saturday. With a difficult weekend in the
books, Russell has stated Mercedes will conduct a meeting to
discover why its form has been ticking downward at recent events.
"Maximum in terms of the finishing result, very underwhelming in
terms of the performance," Russell assessed to media including
RacingNews365 . "We need to really understand what is going on and
why we've taken such a step backwards. "These conditions today, you
would argue, were ideal for us in our car. "Once again, it's been
the worst performance of the season. "We're going to have a big
sit-down this week and try to figure it out." Russell suggested the
front wing regulation change that was enforced from Barcelona and
the development route Mercedes has taken with it has hurt the team.
"We had the change with the front wing in Barcelona," Russell
said. "We then went in a slightly different direction afterwards
to tackle the issue of the change of front wing. "Clearly since
that point, we've taken a big step backwards. It could be as simple
as just reverting back to something that we had earlier in the
season. "Of course, we can't do that with the front wing, but in
terms of the rest of the setup. It seems quite strange how we've
gone so far backwards."
