F1's summer break couldn't come soon enough for Russell

George Russell says he needs Formula 1's summer shutdown to give himself a break after experiencing what he describes as the worst run in his racing career.

Mercedes has delivered the most competitive car on the grid so far this year, and Russell's teammate Kimi Antonelli heads into the break with a 50-point championship lead. But after starting the season with a pair of one-two finishes, Mercedes has failed to repeat that result, and reliability has become an ongoing cause for concern. Russell has battled a power unit deployment problem that has hampered him for a number of races, and after that was believed to be fixed, a throttle problem dropped him to last on the opening lap of last weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.

“Obviously the problems are happening, but the whole team feels it as well, so they're as pissed off as I am with how it's unfolded,” Russell said. “We need to look at ourselves and ensure there's nothing we're doing wrong that is contributing to these errors.

“Obviously, Oscar [Piastri] had his thing [in Hungary] as well. It's not like we're the only one, but it does feel like it is happening substantially more to me than others, and hopefully it swings around. I don't wish any bad luck on anyone, but I've never had a season like this in my whole career, let alone my F1 career.

“I usually don't feel like I need a break. This year, I definitely feel like I need one.”

Explaining the specific problem in Hungary, Russell said it was something that had not been seen during a race weekend but did occur when the car first ran in pre-season.

“I was on the throttle holding the revs, and then all of a sudden, about four seconds before the lights went out, the engine just started revving all over the place, and I was reacting with my throttle, and it was doing nothing," he said. "So, the engine wasn't reacting to the throttle.

“It was obviously a brand new engine. I think it was something we saw in pre-season at some point, but … no idea.”

Russell says he can take solace from his recovery drive on Sunday, as he climbed from 21st place on the opening lap to finish seventh.

“I'm sort of past the point of disappointment now, because if I'm continuing to be disappointed with everything that goes on, I'll just be disappointed every day of the week," he said. "So, I've got to stay positive.

“Obviously, another technical issue that completely ruined the race, but taking some positives, the pace was very strong. The team said it was as strong as anybody out there, which I haven't been there for probably two or three races now, or three races.

“So I'll take positives there. But it's just unbelievable, the list of things that's happened this season.”