SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (AFP) — Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff said he intended to put an arm around an emotional George Russell on Sunday after the driver appeared to be distraught following a first-lap retirement at the Belgian Grand Prix.

For Wolff it was a bittersweet afternoon as Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli claimed a fighting victory, his sixth of the season, to extend his lead in the drivers’ championship by 50 points ahead of teammate Russell.

Russell, who began the race 25 points shy of his teammate, fell to third in the title race after a collision with former teammate, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari.

Speaking to
Sky Sports soon after his enforced retirement, Russell blamed his car’s lack of power for his plight and accident.

“I got totally swallowed up down the straight,” he said.

“I lost three positions going down into turn five. It was a racing incident. Maybe I could have gone a bit wider, maybe he could have braked a bit more.”

Hamilton was adjudged responsible for the accident and handed a five-second penalty by the stewards, but Russell repeated his complaint from previous days that his lack of performance was due to a power deficit in his car.

“The incident shouldn’t have happened. If I had the speed down the straight… I’m very, very disappointed.

“I appreciate everyone’s working hard to solve the problem but I’m stood here now — on lap five of the race.

Race driver George Russell (left) and Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff

“I felt like I was in a good position to fight for the lead at turn one and then suddenly, no power. It was all gone.”

Wolff defended Mercedes’ power units, which are used by the factory team and others including rivals McLaren.

“We came out with a product this year that is so strong. And I’d rather have to fix reliability than accelerate a slow engine,” he said.

“We’re giving it 100 per cent; we need to, because we have lost a lot of points due to reliability. We should be further ahead.

“George has 100 per cent our support. He had a difficult weekend; half of it is to be attributed to the power unit that wasn’t as good as it should have been, and the other half maybe on the driving.

“But, we are in this together. We all make mistakes. Today is the mistake of the team and another day, the driver. We just need to minimise it and support each other.”

He said he understood why Russell felt emotional and nonplussed.

“The moment you’re out of this race it’s so frustrating and the emotions boil. We are trying to solve the issues.

“He’s doing everything he can to get on top of his driving and I’m going to try to put my arm around him.”