Russell’s vindicated but Antonelli’s looking ever more formidable

From the moment Mercedes re-adjusted its understanding of the grip level at Spa-Francorchamps after FP1 on Friday, Kimi Antonelli has looked a step ahead of the field.

The championship leader appeared so comfortable at all times after that, finding pace and putting a huge gap between himself and his teammate George Russell on many laps. It allowed him to build up a head of steam that he struggled to do in his rookie season, and for a 19-year-old to deliver a pole position lap that appeared inevitable threatened to overshadow how impressive it was.

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“It was not so serene [in the garage] in the first lap in qualifying because that looked a little bit off the pace, which we didn’t expect, but then he just banged in those laps and at the end probably pole is the kind of result of all the sessions over the weekend that he merited,” team principal Toto Wolff told me on F1 TV.

“[He looks so comfortable], but I think he was born to do this. He’s in a way reflective, calm, when the situation doesn’t work out there’s not much complication around it. They do the work with Bono [engineer Peter Bonnington] and with Stephane [Guerin, of the Mercedes driver academy], and it’s his ability to compartmentalize, analyze, and just put it aside and just go.

“But obviously he also has the momentum behind himself. It’s much easier if you are the underdog a bit, the young kid, things are going easier rather than being the one who is expected to perform.”

The one expected to perform this season is George Russell, but he has often found himself in the shadow of Antonelli’s performance. Yet there has been an ever-louder claim from the 28-year-old that his car was not delivering the speed it should be, one that was largely dismissed by Wolff after the last race in Silverstone. That wasn’t the case on Saturday at Spa.

“George is obviously suffering from a lack of straight-line speed which we are unable to explain. A couple of tenths, we’ve literally left no stone unturned. Is it the power unit? Kimi has a brand-new power unit and this makes a difference? We will see on the next tracks because they will be less energy starved so it doesn’t make a big difference.

“And then there’s a few tenths that George needs to find. Lots of it he has already found, but over a few corners there’s still two tenths or two-and-a-half tenths, so overall he has recovered well but at the moment he doesn’t jell with the car and he hasn’t for the last two weekends. That’s probably not his fault, but we just need to bring it together.”

Knowing there's an issue is a comfort, but not knowing what it is or how to resolve it is infuriating for Russell. Jayce Illman/Getty Images

For Russell, he admits the half-second deficit to Antonelli is not solely from the straight-line issues he has been complaining of, but having closed a bigger gap from Friday, there was an element of relief that he has proven his machinery is not helping him.

“Could be worse, could be much better,” Russell said. “Yesterday I was losing eight-tenths on the straights, today I’m losing four-tenths. So it’s a step in the right direction. But we saw this, from Silverstone, we thought we found the problem – we thought it was something with the brakes; it wasn’t the brakes.

“Then we thought it was my driving style with the throttle. I convinced myself that it was something in me, the driving style. Now we’re very confident it’s not the driving style, and that there’s a serious issue at play here. The team are working so hard to resolve it, but every lap I do, when I see I’m down anywhere from two-tenths to six-tenths in the straights, it’s pretty infuriating.

“I felt very happy and content with my lap, to be honest. It was a minimum that we’d be fighting for the front row. But my whole focus the last 36 hours has been on straight-line speed. It hasn’t been focusing on the set-up, the tires or anything, because we’re all trying to solve what is going on.

“Even my last lap, for some reason, I lost another tenth and a half to myself just on the straight, and you’re watching on your steering wheel just losing speed when you’re full gas on the straight. You feel powerless. We don’t know what’s going on. I don’t think it’s the power unit, to be honest. But there’s something slowing us down in the straights. As I said, the team are really, really on it now to try and solve it.”

For Russell, third on the grid – one place higher than his qualifying position thanks to a grid penalty for Lando Norris – is a solid return after a tough weekend so far. But the straight-line deficit is something he will have to carry through the race, having admitted he has already had to fight the urge to push harder in corners to compensate.

“It’s tempting, it’s tempting… But my engineer has done a really good job of highlighting where I’m losing, and when I cross the line, you see you’re half a second down, it feels pretty rubbish. But when you realize more than 75% of that is coming from the power unit, you feel a bit better.

“As I said, I was pleased with my lap. When I look at the corners, there was a lot of corners where I was faster. There’s definitely corners that I needed to improve, [but] the corners look like a normal fight you would have for a pole. The straights, it’s not. I don’t know what the solution is, but praying ahead of Budapest we find it.”

Whether Russell and Mercedes find the catalyst to his struggles or not, there appears to be a more collective acceptance of the situation in Belgium. But that’s still not necessarily going to help Russell prevent Antonelli from extending his championship lead on Sunday.

“I’ve been feeling good with the car overall during the whole year,” Antonelli said. “I’ve had good confidence with the car overall in low speed and medium speed. Mainly, the high speed in qualifying was not that challenging. It was more about after Pouhon, the chicane, and also Turns 5 and 6 as well.

“So, I’ve been feeling good with the car, and it’s good to be more and more confident whenever I jump in it. Hopefully, [on Sunday] it’s just off into the distance.”