Mercedes resolve George Russell engine issues for Hungarian Grand Prix
George Russell is confident Mercedes have fixed a debilitating engine software bug ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix as he looks to rescue his 2026 title campaign.
The British driver slipped 50 points behind championship-leading team-mate Kimi Antonelli following a first-lap retirement at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend.
His premature exit in Belgium was triggered by a collision with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, but underlying power unit problems heavily compromised his entire weekend.
An energy-deployment glitch affected his straight-line speed over the opening two days, while a separate anomaly hampered the race start for all Mercedes-powered cars.
Software bug identified before Budapest
The Brackley-based outfit have spent the days since the Belgian event meticulously investigating their data to pinpoint the root cause of the deficit.
Russell confirmed the power loss was entirely technical and completely unrelated to his driving style or approach to the sweeping Spa circuit.
“We’re pretty confident we’ve got on top of the issues that we had in Spa and it should be easy to resolve,” he explained.
“We think it was a software bug. It wasn’t the driving style that was contributing to the loss of power, so that’s something at least.”
Mental toll of championship battle
The 28-year-old began the 2026 season as the overwhelming favourite for the drivers’ championship but has struggled with intermittent inconsistency.
A growing points deficit to Antonelli has created an immense pressure cooker for the former Williams driver ahead of Formula 1’s impending summer break.
Reflecting on a turbulent campaign, the Mercedes star admitted the current season has frequently felt like an emotional rollercoaster.
“It is the toughest psychological battle I’ve had,” he added.
“Time will tell but it wasn’t an easy couple of weeks.”