George Russell’s hopes of fighting at the front of the Hungarian Grand Prix were effectively over before the race had properly begun, but Mercedes have now explained exactly what caused the dramatic start-line problem.
The Brit qualified sixth at the Hungaroring and was expected to challenge for a strong points finish.
Instead, he dropped to the back of the field in 21st after his car triggered its anti-stall system as the lights went out.
A few days after the race, Mercedes Deputy Team Principal Bradley Lord revealed in the team’s post-race debrief video that Russell was not responsible for the issue.
Mercedes explain what happened
“What we all saw was that he got anti-stall off the line, and that dropped him to the back of the field. The question is why?” Lord said.
“As the drivers wait for the start, they hold what are called their wait revs, so the engine’s RPM, at a specific level.
“As George was doing that, the revs actually rose out of proportion to what he was asking for from the throttle,” Lord continued.
“The revs hit the rev limiter at the maximum RPM that the engine allows at that point, and then George tried to get it back under control to optimise and control his start.
“He wasn’t able to do so, and as he was lifting right off the throttle to under 10% of throttle demand, the lights went out.
“He made a start with effectively much too little throttle through no fault of his own. That meant the anti-stall kicked in, so he dropped to the back of the field.”
The explanation confirms Russell’s poor getaway was caused by a technical issue rather than driver error, leaving the Mercedes driver with a huge task just seconds into the race.
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Russell recovers to seventh
Despite the setback, Russell produced an impressive recovery drive to limit the damage and finish seventh, climbing through the field to score valuable championship points.
Lord praised the 28-year-old’s performance after the difficult start.
“He picked the cars in front of him off one-by-one as he went through that first stint, and actually was also unlucky with the timing of the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) at the end of the race,” he explained.
“[The VSC] came out one lap after his second stop. Had he been able to take advantage of it and get a free stop as such under the VSC, he could have finished even higher up than his eventual P7 finishing position.”
Russell ultimately crossed the line about two seconds behind Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, capping off what Mercedes described as an impressive recovery after a race that looked destined to end in disappointment before the first corner.
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SportJustSport writers 
Michael Davey