George Russell’s F1 first half to forget

As the podium celebration died down and the media sessions drew to a close, the talk around the Formula 1 paddock on Sunday evening at the Hungaroring was of the summer break. Drivers and team principals looked ahead to some time away from the grid, as the sport entered the annual August shutdown as mandated by the Sporting Regulations.

But one driver was looking forward to the break more than most.

That would be George Russell, the Mercedes driver who endured another heartbreak in a first half filled with them. After entering the season as one of the favorites to bring home the Drivers’ Championship, and beginning the year with a win at the Australian Grand Prix, Russell has dealt with a brutal string of bad luck, that continued on Sunday at the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix. After lining up sixth on the grid, his Mercedes W17 went into anti-stall as the lights went out, sending him tumbling down the order as the bulk of the field drove by him.

After dropping down to 21st place, Russell managed to fight back and limit the damage, ultimately finishing seventh.

Still, it was a day to forget, and a first half to forget as well.

And the latest in a string of technical failures and bizarre twists that has Russell sitting third in the Drivers’ Championship standings, after leading them for the first time in his career following the Australian Grand Prix.

During qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix, his W17 also went into anti-stall mode and even came to a stop on the track, requiring the driver to shut the car down, swap out the steering wheel, and effectively reset the car. While he overcame those struggles to qualify second, the list was just getting started.

At the Japanese Grand Prix, a setup change left him struggling for pace. But he was still running at the front of the field when an ill-timed safety car put teammate Kimi Antonelli in position to win, dropping Russell to fourth and out of the Drivers’ Championship lead. “One lap difference and we’d have won the race, but then obviously we just made a meal of it thereafter,” said Russell to Sky Sports F1 following that race.

Then at the Canadian Grand Prix his fortunes seemed to change, when he beat Antonelli on merit in the F1 Sprint race. He was leading the main event on Sunday, when his W17 suffered an engine failure, ending his race.

And as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words:

“It feels like the gods don’t want me to be in this fight,” said Russell after the Canadian Grand Prix.

Somehow, things got worse for him in Monaco.

On a circuit where qualifying is everything, Russell only managed to line up sixth on the grid. During the race his frustrations grew when he could not find a way around Isack Hadjar, despite the Red Bull driver reporting braking and gear issues with his RB22. Russell was then assessed a penalty for speeding in pit lane, and when he did not serve that penalty according to the stewards, he was assessed a drive-through penalty.

He finished outside of the points.

As if that was not enough, Pierre Gasly requested a right of review for his own penalty for speeding in pit lane, and ultimately that was granted, as the race stewards found evidence of an incorrect distance calculation. That reinstated Gasly to a podium finish, but was of little comfort to Russell, who had served his penalty during the race — Gasly had his penalty assessed after finishing third on the road.

Mercedes lodged a separate right of review for Russell’s situation, but ultimately withdrew the petition.

A pair of second-place finishes in Barcelona and Silverstone, sandwiching a win at the Austrian Grand Prix, seemed to indicate his fortunes were changing. However, the bad luck returned at the Belgian Grand Prix a week ago, when contact with Lewis Hamilton at Les Combes ended his race on the opening lap. Speaking after the race, Russell noted that his W17 was dealing with an electrical issue that diminished engine power and disallowed battery deployment across Eau Rouge, leaving him vulnerable to other drivers on the long Kemmel Straight.

”So I went round the first corner, the battery didn’t charge and I exited the first corner and I was 35% down - and because of that, because it didn’t charge, I also had a boost problem. The turbo didn’t sort itself out, so I had no power,” described Russell after the Belgian Grand Prix.

”I got to the top of Eau Rouge with 0% on the battery. Quite frankly, it was dangerous. I got swamped by three cars. I shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place, that’s why I’m most angry.

“I was going slower than an F2 car, I got overtaken by three drivers. Left me vulnerable.”

Then came this weekend, which saw Russell forced to change power units after a crack on the engine caused a water leak. He qualified seventh, but was promoted to sixth after Antonelli was handed a three-place grid drop for a yellow flag infringement.

But as noted above, he did not stay in sixth for long after the lights went out.

Following the race, both team principal Toto Wolff and trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin put the onus on the team to make things right.

“[George’s] problem at the start was fully on us as a team and it isn’t good enough. He has suffered too many of these problems; we are doing everything we can to get on top of them, but it is unfortunately another issue that has cost him again today,” said Wolff in the team’s media report.

“On George’s side, we are obviously disappointed by the issue at the start. The anti-stall activation dropped him to the back of the field and made what was always going to be a challenging race even more difficult. We need to understand exactly why that happened, but once he recovered from the opening lap, his pace was very competitive, and he fought back through the field to salvage important points,” added Shovlin.

And now as the break arrives, after a season that began with so much promise, Russell sits third in the Drivers’ Championship standings, 59 points behind his teammate Antonelli and nine points behind his former teammate Hamilton.

Could Russell make a comeback? The driver seemed to be looking ahead, while looking back, on Monday morning:

F1 has seen comebacks before. Just last year Max Verstappen was 97 points back in the Drivers’ Championship standings after the Hungarian Grand Prix, but finished second to Lando Norris, just two points away from another title.

And despite the reliability issues, the W17 remains the lead package on the grid, despite Ferrari, McLaren, and Red Bull working to narrow that gap.

Still, as the grid goes quiet for a few weeks until the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, you can be sure one driver is rather happy for the respite.