Damon Hill says something ‘weird’ is going on with George Russell and Mercedes

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Damon Hill has expressed his sympathy for George Russell after the Mercedes driver’s crushing weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Russell trailed teammate Kimi Antonelli by half a second in qualifying but says it’s not a fair fight at the moment due to an ongoing straight-line speed deficit between the cars.

At the start of the race, Russell was affected by a power shortage that affected every Mercedes-powered car to varying degrees. After losing three places on the Kemmel Straight, he tangled with Lewis Hamilton and spun into the gravel, which led to his retirement.

Is George Russell fighting with one hand behind his back, or is Kimi Antonelli just too good?

Antonelli extends his lead in the standings to 44 points after Spa!

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Damon Hill tells Mercedes that their cars should be ‘identical’

In an interview with Sky Sports afterwards, Russell said: “I appreciate everyone’s working hard to solve the problem, but I’m stood here [in the media pen] on lap five of the race, and it felt like I was in a good position to fight for the lead. Then, suddenly, no power and it’s all gone.”

Reacting to those comments on his X account, 1996 world champion Hill empathised with Russell’s feeling of powerlessness. He agrees that the two Mercedes cars are not ‘identical’ right now.

“Got to feel for the guy,” Hill wrote. “What does he have to do? All a bit weird how his car is different to Kimi’s. They should be identical, performance-wise. We will no doubt hear more of this anon.”

• READ MORE: George Russell tells Mercedes he just wants the ‘same car’ as Kimi Antonelli

On Mercedes’ social media channels, Toto Wolff said the team are ‘pulling everything together’ to improve their concerning reliability record, which is preventing them from maximising a ‘strong package’.

In a follow-up X post quoting that interview, Hill said: “The irony of the age; more knowledge than ever before in human history, yet even more mysteries.”

Russell retired from the lead at the Canadian GP earlier in the month and also stopped on track during qualifying in China, which contributed to Antonelli bagging pole. The Italian won that race, launching a run of five in a row after trailing his teammate in Australia.