Russell expresses concern as Mercedes take 'a big step backwards' in Belgium

George Russell admitted his concern that Mercedes had “taken a big step backwards” after another difficult qualifying session for the team at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Mercedes has struggled for pace across the Spa-Francorchamps weekend so far, with neither Russell nor Kimi Antonelli reaching the final phase of Sprint Qualifying on Friday, and both struggling to progress through the field in the Sprint itself.

While Russell’s sixth place for Sunday’s Grand Prix may appear a strong result on paper, the Canadian Grand Prix race winner pointed to the fine margins that defined his session.

“It was for sure, the maximum,” he said. “All of my laps were strong, but it’s clear that, as a team, we’ve taken a big step backwards this weekend. We don’t really know why.

“One tenth slower in Q1, I’d have been almost out. A tenth slower in Q3 and I’d have been P10. P6, I feel, is without doubt, the maximum we could have achieved.”

Last year, in a race Russell also started from sixth, the Briton took the chequered flag after putting on a spectacular display to make a one-stop strategy work.

Although his celebrations were halted as he was disqualified for his car being underweight, when asked if this gives him hope for this year’s running, he added: “Yeah.

“I don’t think it’ll pan out just like last year, especially as it’s wet tomorrow. But anything can happen. We’ll take those positives, but as a team, we just need to assess why we had four podiums in the first six races and we’ve had one in the last six races.”

Rookie Antonelli has also found himself enduring a recent run of a bad form, with a third place in Canada his only points score in the last six races. Indeed, he is yet to score a point on European soil.

An error in Sprint Qualifying left him at the back of Saturday’s grid, but the Italian had no such excuse on Qualifying for the Grand Prix, as he set the third slowest time, with only the two Aston Martins behind him.

“It’s just a difficult period,” he conceded. “I just need to get out of this and try to improve for the next one.”

“The confidence has been missing. Definitely, I struggled to have the same feeling as yesterday, for example, and I just really need to find the light at the end of the tunnel again.”