following his first lap elimination from the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver was inadvertently collected by Lewis Hamilton
at Turn 5 after being what Russell described as “swamped” following
a loss of battery power out of Turn 1 after the power unit failed
to harvest. Throughout the Spa weekend, Russell had been struggling
with straight-line speed, even losing four-tenths to team-mate Kimi
Antonelli alone in the final sector on their best qualifying laps
in Q3. Russell’s retirement and Antonelli’s victory mean the
Italian now holds a 50-point advantage over the Briton, with
Hamilton, who received a five-second time penalty for the incident,
moving ahead and into second place in the drivers’ standings.
Immediately following the contact, Russell dropped a number of
f-bombs over the team radio after his third non-score of the
season, after 12th in Monaco and a DNF in Canada. “I am out. What
the f**k happened with the SoC (State of Charge) down the
straight,” he began. “I had no f**king battery down the straight.
“Guys, unacceptable. Un-f**king acceptable this whole weekend.”
Créditos da imagem: Russell Belgium