Mercedes
Russell made transfer within the early phases on Albon to steal fifth, and may need hoped for extra when he got here out proper behind Verstappen after the primary pit stops. However he didn’t have the tempo to stay with the Pink Bull, and from there endured a little bit of a lonely race. Antonelli was way more within the thick of the motion, after choosing a pit lane begin. However he couldn’t observe Hamilton up by way of the order, regardless of some entertaining wheel to wheel battles with the likes of Ocon. He has not scored since his podium in Canada.
George Russell, fifth
“P5 was the utmost we might have achieved right this moment. Our tempo was not sturdy in comparison with our ordinary rivals and that left us in a lonely race to P5. It’s irritating to be in that place however that was the fact of our weekend.
“It has been an underwhelming weekend for us, so we have to shortly analyse what’s occurred right here in Spa. We’ve got some on concepts as to the place we’ve misplaced out to our rivals in current races. We nonetheless have another Grand Prix earlier than the summer season break to place issues proper and that will likely be our focus in Budapest subsequent weekend.”
Kimi Antonelli, sixteenth
“We opted to alter the set-up in anticipation of a moist race right this moment and, throughout these first few laps, that proved helpful. The automobile felt good, and I used to be in a position to make some overtakes and progress up the sector. Sadly, the monitor dried shortly and for the remainder of the race we have been dropping out on the straights to a few of the automobiles we have been racing. Regardless of having the ability to stick near these we have been racing, we have been unable to get any overtakes carried out. That meant we opted to strive one thing totally different and went to the two-stop, however the consequence was comparable as we obtained caught behind the Haas of Esteban Ocon.
“It has been a troublesome weekend right here in Spa, however we’ve the prospect to reset and are available again stronger right away in Budapest. We need to go into the summer season shutdown with some momentum and I, and the crew, are centered on doing that.”
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“There aren’t many positives we are able to take from the weekend right here in Spa. Our tempo has not been adequate to compete with our ordinary rivals and that has been irritating. We have to shortly perceive why that has been. We additionally want to make sure we execute the race weekend extra cleanly, getting the automobile in a greater place from the primary session on monitor.
“Immediately, George delivered what was the utmost with the automobile in P5. It was a race all about harm limitation and he did job to safe some factors. For Kimi, ranging from the again, it was all the time going to be difficult to combat by way of. Within the wetter situations, his set-up was helpful however that hindered him as soon as it transitioned to the dry. He tried one thing totally different with the two-stop within the closing phases, however his straight-line deficit held him again.”
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
“This has been a tricky weekend for us right here in Spa. We haven’t had good tempo all through, so right this moment’s race was very a lot about harm limitation. George maximised his consequence with P5, profiting from having a decrease downforce set-up to cross the Williams of Alex Albon within the closing phases. From there, it was a lonely race for him to the flag.
“For Kimi, he opted for the next downforce moist set-up which offered dividends within the early phases on the damp circuit. Sadly, as we transitioned to slicks, his tempo benefit over automobiles forward was negated by a scarcity of straight-line pace. We rolled the cube with the two-stop technique, however factors wouldn’t have been achievable no matter we did.
“After a difficult weekend right here in Belgium, it’s good to get again on monitor subsequent weekend in Budapest. We’ll spend the approaching days analysing this weekend and ensuring we supply the learnings into our operating on the Hungaroring. Hopefully we are able to go into the summer season break with a extra constructive consequence than we’ve managed right here in Spa.”
