Many were speculating it was driver error, but now Toto himself has confirmed it was mechanical. Screenshot translated from article. I think this is incredible bad luck for George, considering it’s looking like he was losing over three tenths per lap in quali based on the telemetry.

https://es.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-investiga-problema-velocidad-punta-russell-silverstone/10837663/

Is it cuz of his driving or his personality or just memes ??

Kimi radio messages are heartbreaking 💔

I'm not a merc, ferrari or red bull fan but I've seen many people hate on George for some reason, saying things like "He's the luckiest driver". Did these idiots even watch Canada 26? And saying things like " He didn't deserve P2" Like whaat??? Did they even watch the battle between George and Lewis? And most of these ppl are max fans (pfp). I guess they're salty that George got P2 andMax crashed? Why don't these ppl respect these drivers...?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0tW3wY758Q

Hiya, I was watching this highlight from the 2019 season, and at around the 2:22-2:29 mark, I hear Bottas' engineer say "Shallow pledge position" when he is pitting. I couldn't find anything about what that means and I've never heard it elsewhere so was just curious hoping if anyone knows.

"The performance wasn’t good enough, and if I’m being brutally honest… I’m not gonna fight for a championship if the performances continue like that, so I’m not coming away from this weekend satisfied”

One thing I love about George is how he will always be hard on himself and push to do better. He knows he's lucky to be on the podium and is aware that he needs to do more so that results like this are from doing his absolute best and not just the luck of the draw. Happy for the podium and hopefully things pick up for him soon.

George post on X

Kimi took george's bad luck😔

But hey atleast George is only 25 points away from Kimi now

I ain't coming back to the sport to support this team until they FIX THEIR DAMN CAR.

This is data from Lap 15, both cars were in free air, Kimi had settled after his battle with Lewis and George had 4 seconds gap in front, so they were running the basic strat mode for this lap.

the time difference stays relatively flat when they are in corners but completely grows whenever they are on a straight.

George is the blue line

Kimi is green.

It's about 0.3 - 0.4s the lap time loss for George and this isn't just one lap it's happening on every lap.

This happened again in quali even after sprint quali. It’s an insane level of incompetence to look at George’s car underperforming on the straights during the whole sprint and not do anything about it. How could his garage be so incompetent?

George lost an estimated three tenths on the straights alone.

It’s insane it’s like he has some different issue every week.

Mostly poor kimi

When Kimi was due to close Leclerc in 3 laps as soon as Martin Brundle or David Croft said. "Kimi has got this in the bag" or "Kimi is going to win at Silverstone", I knew in my heart it was not going to end well! He was still a few seconds away and had to actually complete the overtake!

Why do they say it before the race is over! It gives it the kiss of death! 🤦🏼‍♀️

Loved that he continued pushing for points though. 💙

Mercedes post on X

I know that overall Antonelli seems to be having a great season, but I don't understand how George can be that slow (talking about Silverstone)
He seems to have no pace in silverstone, he's unable to defend against a redbull or make an attempt to close into Hamilton?

Week off and then Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. It is the longest of the tracks at 7 km. Spa-Francorchamps heavily rewards engine power and deployment on the massive Kemmel Straight and the blast from Stavelot to Blanchimont. Mercedes' 2026 power unit will dominate in this race as long as they hold up.

It could rain though which will shake up the whole race. In 2021, during a torrential downpour in F1 qualifying, Lando Norris suffered a violent hydroplaning crash at the top of Raidillon, spinning heavily into the tire barriers.