Mercedes
Russell made a good move in the early stages on Albon to steal fifth, and might have hoped for more when he came out right behind Verstappen after the first pit stops. But he did not have the pace to stick with the Red Bull, and from there endured a bit of a lonely race. Antonelli was much more in the thick of the action, after opting for a pit lane start. But he couldn’t follow Hamilton up through the order, despite some entertaining wheel to wheel battles with the likes of Ocon. He has not scored since his podium in Canada.
George Russell, 5th
“P5 was the maximum we could have achieved today. Our pace was not strong compared to our usual competitors and that left us in a lonely race to P5. It is frustrating to be in that position but that was the reality of our weekend.
“It has been an underwhelming weekend for us, so we need to quickly analyse what’s happened here in Spa. We have some on ideas as to where we have lost out to our rivals in recent races. We still have one more Grand Prix before the summer break to put things right and that will be our focus in Budapest next weekend.”
Kimi Antonelli, 16th
“We opted to change the set-up in anticipation of a wet race today and, during those first few laps, that proved beneficial. The car felt good, and I was able to make some overtakes and progress up the field. Unfortunately, the track dried quickly and for the rest of the race we were losing out on the straights to some of the cars we were racing. Despite being able to stick close to those we were racing, we were unable to get any overtakes done. That meant we opted to try something different and went to the two-stop, but the result was similar as we got stuck behind the Haas of Esteban Ocon.
“It’s been a difficult weekend here in Spa, but we have the chance to reset and come back stronger straight away in Budapest. We want to go into the summer shutdown with some momentum and I, and the team, are focused on doing that.”
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“There are not many positives we can take from the weekend here in Spa. Our pace has not been good enough to compete with our usual rivals and that has been frustrating. We need to quickly understand why that has been. We also need to ensure we execute the race weekend more cleanly, getting the car in a better place from the first session on track.
“Today, George delivered what was the maximum with the car in P5. It was a race all about damage limitation and he did a good job to secure some points. For Kimi, starting from the back, it was always going to be challenging to fight through. In the wetter conditions, his set-up was useful but that hindered him once it transitioned to the dry. He attempted something different with the two-stop in the closing stages, but his straight-line deficit held him back.”
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
“This has been a tough weekend for us here in Spa. We haven’t had good pace throughout, so today’s race was very much about damage limitation. George maximised his result with P5, taking advantage of having a lower downforce set-up to pass the Williams of Alex Albon in the closing stages. From there, it was a lonely race for him to the flag.
“For Kimi, he opted for a higher downforce wet set-up which provided dividends in the early stages on the damp circuit. Sadly, as we transitioned to slicks, his pace advantage over cars ahead was negated by a lack of straight-line speed. We rolled the dice with the two-stop strategy, but points would not have been achievable whatever we did.
“After a challenging weekend here in Belgium, it is good to get back on track next weekend in Budapest. We will spend the coming days analysing this weekend and making sure we carry the learnings into our running at the Hungaroring. Hopefully we can go into the summer break with a more positive result than we have managed here in Spa.”
