Riccardo Patrese: Too many excuses from George Russell after his disastrous Belgian Grand Prix

Patrese also criticised Formula 1’s 2026 battery management confusion, arguing the fluctuating performance is confusing for spectators and unsuitable for the sport. He then questioned Russell’s championship mentality, claiming the Mercedes driver is allowing setbacks and Kimi Antonelli’s success to affect his performance.

Russell’s race ended at Les Combes after contact with Hamilton on the opening lap left his Mercedes beached in the gravel. Antonelli won and extended his championship advantage over Russell to 50 points after ten rounds.

Russell regarded the clash as a racing incident and refused to blame Hamilton. He explained that a battery deficit exiting La Source left him vulnerable on the run towards Les Combes. Patrese believed the collision should have been treated as a racing incident.

However, he believed Russell created the danger by placing his Mercedes incorrectly. He said: “It was a disastrous race for Russell because he was in the wrong place. They gave Lewis a penalty, but as Lewis said, it was a race accident. George put his car in the wrong place.

“Hamilton couldn't disappear. He was on the outside line and also a little bit in front. If there was contact, it was Russell who was in the wrong place, especially as it was on the first lap and he is a contender for the championship."

“In that situation you must be a little bit more prudent. He put himself into a dangerous position, and there was contact," added Patrese, who was perplexed by the energy-management farce that Formula 1 has become. The Mercedes made the opening-lap incident harder to understand.

He explained, "Racing has improved from the problems we saw at the beginning when we saw one car 50 kph slower because the battery was being recharged. But there are still moments when only the driver can feel it, when one car is slowing down and the other is accelerating.”

Patrese used Antonelli’s race to highlight what he considers an artificial and difficult-to-follow performance pattern under the new regulations: “For Kimi, for example, at the start of the race going down to Eau Rouge, Leclerc overtook him because they say there was a problem that the Mercedes engine didn’t push enough.

“He recovered to overtake him at the end of the straight. This is all to do with the new fashion way to charge the battery. Because of that, for us from outside, it's difficult to understand what's going on sometimes," reckoned the Italian motorsport veteran.

Antonelli recovered after Ferrari and Charles Leclerc benefited from the Virtual Safety Car during the pit-stop phase. The Mercedes driver closed the gap, passed Leclerc and secured his sixth victory of the season.

Patrese continued: “At one point, Antonelli, after a pitstop, was three or four seconds behind Leclerc. He caught him up and overtook him in the straight and looked like he would kill him off with raw speed. Within half a lap he went away by two or three seconds, and then Leclerc came back to one second.

"For me that is very strange. It is not right for F1. And we know Max Verstappen doesn’t like the way things are. And, if I have to comment, I back Verstappen.”

Patrese was equally direct about Russell’s response to a difficult weekend: “George always finds excuses for why he’s not performing. That’s not the mood of a champion. He is in the kind of mood where he thinks the odds are stacked against him. But that certainly only makes his performances poorer.

“When you sink into this mood where you think that everything is against you, automatically you are below your best. Now he is in this position. If he raises his spirits, he probably can also go quicker. But he always thinks that something is against him.

“He always tries to find excuses, and that is not the mood that you must have if you want to compete for the championship," said Patrese, adding that the contrasting confidence levels within Mercedes are increasing the performance gap between its drivers.

“He does have the car to compete to be a champion. His mood is probably down to Kimi, who will be feeling the opposite and over the moon and thinking to himself that he is unbeatable. So, we have these two different positions, and that makes the split between the two drivers even bigger. Sometimes it's better to keep silent than to find excuses," ventured Patrese.

For Russell the "disaster" at Spa-Francorchamps cost him dear as Antonelli doubled his points lead to 50 points in the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship standings after ten rounds.
(Riccardo Patrese was speaking to Compare.bet, who offer the latest new betting sites.)