Antonelli reacts to George Russell issue in 'bit crazy' admission

Kimi Antonelli said the way a driver uses the car can make the system go “a bit crazy” in response to George Russell’s complaints about an ongoing issue with his Mercedes.

Russell’s miserable run continued after he blamed a lack of power for putting him on a collision course with Lewis Hamilton, but his teammate described it as a “slight issue.”

Kimi Antonelli responds to George Russell complaints

Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google for news you can trust.

After his early season momentum disappeared, Russell has blamed an ongoing issue with the car on his side of the garage while his teammate picked up his latest win.

Asked directly about Russell’s issues, Antonelli said the way you drive the car can make it a “bit crazy” but said the team would solve it in time for the next race.

“It can happen,” he said. “Being honest, with George this weekend there was a slight loss, and sometimes you just don’t understand. I had the same in Australia, for example.

“It can be a little bit down to driving, but sometimes the system just does something a little bit different. It’s very complicated, and for the team, you have to appreciate the work, because the system is very complicated.

“Of course, they’re trying to make things a bit easier, but sometimes it’s hard to get it perfect. Also, with the driving, sometimes, especially on tracks like this that are very energy-demanding, if you start driving differently, then for the system it’s a bit crazy. So, it is tricky.

“But I have to agree that this weekend, for George, there was a slight issue. I’m sure it will be fixed for Budapest.”

Meanwhile, Antonelli said it was “great to be back on the top step” as he won the Belgian Grand Prix and pushed his title advantage to 45 points.

Having won five consecutive races, Antonelli had gone three grands prix without a win but rebooted his momentum with a confident win in Spa.

Antonelli qualified on pole but quickly lost it as Max Verstappen and then Charles Leclerc got a great start but Mercedes’ dominance soon bore out with the young Italian returning to first.

More reaction from the Belgian GP

Carlos Sainz levels damning ‘not good enough’ verdict on F1 2026 cars

Antonelli wins Belgian Grand Prix as Hamilton penalised for Russell DNF

But, after he had pitted, a VSC to clear debris allowed Leclerc a cheap pit stop which put him in the lead of the race. Antonelli though was able to re-overtake before holding him at arm’s length.

The victory, Antonelli’s sixth of the year, coupled with Russell’s early DNF has made Antonelli’s championship lead look very healthy once again and speaking immediately after the race, he said he was happy to return to P1.

“It’s great to be back on the top step after obviously a few difficult rounds,” Antonelli said. “It was a hard fought race.

“We lost the first place with a virtual safety car, but then we managed to make our way back, and it was a tough win because Charles was quick, and we had to hold on to that.”

The win ended a run of bad luck that had seen Antonelli DNF and drop to 15th in two of the past three races and having overcome that form, Antonelli said he knows it is about capitalising on every opportunity.

“I think the momentum was always there, it was just about getting the result,” the 19-year-old said. “Today we were a bit lucky with what happened in terms of the championship.

“But that’s why you’ve got to try to take every opportunity because we saw that it can really swing very easily the situation.

“So we’ve just got to keep performing, keep bringing the result, and then we’ll see what happens at the end of the year.”

Read next: Belgian Grand Prix F1 results – Antonelli wins, Russell DNF disaster

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!