George Russell given ‘a lot of credit’ for his reaction at Mercedes’ factory to bleak Belgian Grand Prix

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Mercedes held crisis talks at their factory this Monday to review the 2025 F1 Belgian Grand Prix, which George Russell called their ‘worst performance’ so far this season.

The Silver Arrows returned to Brackley with their heads hanging low after a bleak visit to the Ardennes forest last week. Russell and rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli only managed to record a total of 10 points across the Belgian GP weekend, despite Spa staging an F1 Sprint, as well.

Russell registered all 10 of the points that Mercedes scored at Spa with his P5 finish from P6 on the grid in the Belgian GP. Once the 27-year-old overtook Williams ace Alex Albon shortly after the delayed start last Sunday, the Briton ran a lonely race 14.678s adrift of the podium.

Antonelli also only achieved P16 in the Belgian GP after starting from the pit lane. Mercedes withdrew the 18-year-old’s car from the grid to change his rear wing and engine. The Italian had only qualified in P18 after struggling with his W16’s stability in its low-downforce set-up.

Christian Danner expects George Russell led Mercedes’ Belgian Grand Prix crisis meeting

Mercedes ignoring Antonelli’s early request to pit for slick tyres hindered his Belgian GP, too, having informed the Silver Arrows that Spa had dried sufficiently to get off the intermediate Pirelli rubber a lap before they called him in. Russell and Antonelli both pitted on Lap 12/44.

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But Antonelli’s delayed pit stop was not his team’s worst problem at Spa, as Mercedes were baffled by their lack of pace in the Belgian GP compared to McLaren. Russell was 6.1s shy of Oscar Piastri after overtaking Albon, which even grew to 15.218s before they pitted on L12.

So, Mercedes reconvened at their factory in Brackley this Monday to review the Belgian GP with Antonelli, Russell, team principal Toto Wolff and their engineering team in attendance. And Christian Danner expects Russell was quick to point out the problems he battled at Spa.

“I have to give George Russell a lot of credit,” Danner has told Motorsport Magazin. “He’s definitely sitting in Brackley again today talking to the guys.

“You have to explain it in detail from the driver’s perspective, and give the engineers the opportunity to figure out where they’re going wrong here.

“The only hope I have for Mercedes [is that] they have a very good internal culture. That means if a driver says something is [rubbish], no one feels offended. That’s why I haven’t completely given up on this, even if it’s been a while.”

George Russell felt the Belgian Grand Prix was Mercedes’ ‘worst performance’ of 2025

Mercedes normally hold their post-race debriefs on the Monday following a Grand Prix to go through everything that the team learned across the event. But their talks this Monday took on greater significance as the Silver Arrows bid to pinpoint why they are struggling so much.

Some F1 paddock figures think the FIA’s flexible front wing clampdown is costing Mercedes, as they struggled to improve their high-speed balance at Spa and it especially hurt Antonelli in qualifying with a low-downforce rear wing. Russell also seemed to confirm the suspicions.

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Running a lonely race adrift of the fight for the final place on the podium between Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen left Russell to dub the Belgian GP the ‘worst performance’ that Mercedes have endured in the 2025 F1 season with the conditions ideal.

Russell said at Spa, via ESPN: “We need to really understand what is going on and why we’ve taken such a step backwards because these conditions today, you would argue, are ideal for us and our car. And once again, it’s been the worst performance of the season.”

He added: “Obviously, we had the change of the front wing in Barcelona. We then went in a slightly different direction afterwards to sort of tackle the issue of the change of front wing. And clearly, since that point, we’ve taken a big step backwards.

“It could be as simple as just reverting back to something that we had earlier in the season. Of course, you can’t do that with the front wing, but in terms of the rest of the set-up. But I don’t know, it seems quite strange how we’ve gone so far backwards.”