George Russell: Mercedes optimistic power issue resolved for Hungarian GP as driver explains why 2026 ‘tough mental battle’ | F1 News

George Russell is hopeful Mercedes has identified and resolved the problems plaguing his car’s power unit ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Russell fell 50 points behind title-leading teammate Kimi Antonelli at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend after exiting the race on the first lap following contact with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.

However, the Briton felt that the race-ending collision, and overall his difficult weekend compared to an on-form Antonelli, was heavily affected by power-deprivation problems with his engine.

Russell experienced a straight-line speed problem on the first two days of the event, hurting his car’s performance at the end of the long Spa lap, while his race start was hampered by a separate problem that affected all the Mercedes-powered runners and left him vulnerable to the cars behind.

But Russell is hopeful that Mercedes have gotten to the bottom of what went wrong and, crucially, resolved the issues as F1 prepares for its final race before the summer break in Budapest.

“We’re pretty confident we think we’ve got on top of the problems we’ve had at Spa and it should be easy to fix,” he said.

“We hope and we think we have reached the top of it, so feeling more positive.

“At the time we weren’t sure what it was but the team worked so hard to dig really deep.

“I think Spa gave us the right clues where we needed to look and you only find the problem when you look deep in the right places. Fingers crossed we hope the power unit issue is resolved, but we’ll find out this weekend.”

Asked to clarify if there were ever problems with the way he was running the W17, initially working through various methods to deal with the sweeping Belgian laps in practice, Russell said: “We think it was a software bug. It wasn’t the driving style that was contributing to the loss of power at least, so there was something.

“I think Spa gave us the right direction on where to look for the problem. It’s really like pulling a needle out of a haystack and suddenly when you know where you’re looking you might find it and, thankfully, I think we have.”

“Time will tell but it hasn’t been an easy few weeks.”

‘Mentally it’s my toughest battle’ – Russell opens up on ups and downs of 2026

Russell described his season, in which he started as the clear favorite for the world title, as an “emotional rollercoaster” between his own inconsistencies in form and some costly Mercedes reliability issues.

Asked if that contributed to the toughest psychological battle of his career to date, the 28-year-old said: “Yeah, I think it’s probably fair to say it’s the toughest battle I’ve had psychologically just because it’s been a lot of ups and downs, coupled with things that were out of my control and out of Hamm’s control. Progress and progress.

“But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and I feel proud of my resilience and, after three days at the spa here, I’m feeling positive and excited about the weekend and I’m looking to the possibilities of the future and not the disappointment of the past.

“I guess that’s the good thing with racing, you’ve often got a chance around the corner.”

That next opportunity is at the Hungaroring, where Russell has finished on the podium twice and claimed his first career pole position in 2022. The track is not as power dependent as Silverstone, where Russell said he first experienced straight-line speed glitches or spas.

The Briton is aiming to recapture the form he believes he showed when he won the Austrian Grand Prix three races ago.

“I felt some good pace from Austria and Barcelona, ​​especially after Monaco,” said Russell.

“Monaco was very low points for me in my season and coming back to Barcelona, ​​getting pole, P2 (in the race), getting pole in Austria and getting the win, I felt a really good momentum building, which was stopped at Silverstone and Spa.

“I hope I can continue from where we were in Austria.”

He added: I’m just looking forward to coming to Budapest. It’s a circuit I like. It’s going to be a really challenging weekend.

“We know it’s one of the least power-sensitive circuits of the season. We have overtaken Ferrari. They have a better chassis than power unit at the moment, so of all circuits, you can expect them to be competitive here.

“Obviously, Kimi has been performing very well every single race weekend, so it’s not going to be a straight weekend, but I’m excited for it.”

He also stressed that despite Antonelli’s extended lead, nothing is still lost in the race for the 2026 world title.

“For sure (I can still win it),” added Russell.

“We’re not even halfway through yet. It’s been so up-and-down this whole season. Four races ago I was a lot more points behind in the championship than I am now, even with the disappointment of Spa.

“So I’m feeling a lot more positive, excited for the weekend ahead and hopefully now I can focus on driving fast.”

Sky Sports F1’s Hungarian GP schedule

Friday 24 July
8.50am: Exercised F3
10am: F2 practice
12.00pm: Hungarian GP Practice One (Session starts at 12.30pm)*
1.55pm: F3 Qualifying
3pm: F2 Qualifying
3.45pm: Hungarian GP Practice Two (Session starts at 4pm)
5.15pm: The F1 show

Saturday 25 July
9am: F3 sprint
11.15am: Hungarian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint*
2.15pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying Build-up*
3pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying*
5pm: Ted’s Qualifications Notebook*

Sunday 26th July
7.35am: F3 Feature Race
9.05am: Porsche Supercup
10.20am: F2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Hungarian GP Build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
2pm: Hungarian Grand Prix*
4pm: Hungarian GP Reaction: Checkered Flag*
5pm: Ted’s Notebook*

*Also on Sky Sports main events

Formula 1 heads to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix live from this Friday with every session on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – no contract, cancel anytime