Mercedes make Belgian GP ‘data’ discovery in face of brutal Russell claim

George Russell felt a trip over the gravel deposited by team-mate Kimi Antonelli in Sprint qualifying hurt the performance of his Mercedes W16, but the data did not support that.

This reveal comes from Mercedes technical director James Allison, who responded to a challenging Belgian Grand Prix for the team, one which had Russell bluntly stating after the race that it was its “worst performance of the season.”

Mercedes data does not support George Russell’s theory

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Both Mercedes drivers struggled in Sprint qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps, Antonelli eliminated in last place at the first hurdle. His struggles included a moment at Stavelot that kicked up the gravel and saw Russell report damage after going over the debris as he dropped out in SQ2.

Restricted to 12th in the Sprint, Russell’s results improved from there, but not his satisfaction as he finished fifth from sixth on the grid, 35 seconds behind Belgian GP winner Oscar Piastri.

“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 in our car, and once again, it’s been the worst performance of the season,” Russell told the media, including PlanetF1.com, after a rain-affected race.

“So we’re going to have a big sit-down this week and try to figure it out.”

Mercedes technical director James Allison, speaking in the team’s Belgian GP debrief video, admitted it was not an enjoyable experience for the team.

“Clearly, a very difficult weekend,” he said.

“I think one of the things I like about this team is that whether we’ve had a great weekend or a terrible one, we’re here on camera talking about it. And this one was no fun at all.

“Sprint weekend, we didn’t get off on the right foot, struggled in qualifying. Both our cars are having a very undistinguished time in Sprint qualifying, and therefore, an anonymous time in the Sprint race.

“We improved things a little bit as the weekend went on. It was nevertheless not one to remember fondly.”

Allison added that, while Russell was adamant that striking Antonelli’s gravel deposit had impacted his car performance, Mercedes’ data did not align with that theory.

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“Kimi’s car was fairly substantially damaged by its passage through the gravel,” Allison revealed.

“It hurt the front wing, hurt the floor. George took some sort of gravel rash because he went over the gravel that was brought back onto the track by Kimi. And that created some fairly gnarly edges on the underside of the car.

“Although George felt the car’s performance was notably lower when he went back out, we couldn’t see that so much in the data.

“I think we just had the car in the wrong place with the wrong aero balance on and gave him something that was just far too much of a handful for the qualifying to work well. And then once you’re in the qualifying, you don’t have a lot of chance to change things because you’re in parc fermé then.

“So we were able to adjust the front flap and take some of the sting out of it. But the sprint race itself was mostly compromised then by virtue of having poor starting positions.”

Having started F1 2025 with regular podium visits, Russell has scored just one in his last seven grands prix, that his victory from pole in Canada.

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