Mercedes F1 team have left George Russell fans fuming after failing to mention the British driver in a post debriefing the Barcelona Grand Prix.
Russell crossed the line in P2 at last weekend’s race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya claiming his third podium of the sport’s new regulations cycle.
Since winning the season-opening Australian GP back in March, Russell has slipped down the drivers’ standings as team-mate Kimi Antonelli has emerged as the favourite for the championship.
After a record-breaking run of five consecutive grand prix wins for the Italian teenager, Antonelli’s luck finally ran out in Spain last weekend when his Mercedes suffered an ‘electrical shutdown’ with four laps to go, ruling him out of the race entirely.
Following Antonelli’s first DNF of the season, Mercedes took to LinkedIn to celebrate the success of their former star driver Lewis Hamilton, who crossed the line nearly 20 seconds ahead of Russell to secure his first grand prix win for new team Ferrari.
But whilst the Silver Arrows social team shone a light on their ‘old friend’ Hamilton and shared commiserations for Antonelli, Russell wasn’t mentioned at all.
In full, the post read: “A tough day for the Team, but fantastic to see our old friend Lewis Hamilton take his first win in Red for our oldest rivals Scuderia Ferrari HP.
“The Virtual Safety Car may have helped at the final stop, but Lewis drove a fantastic race and is a fully deserving winner.
“We’re dissapointed that another reliability issue has cost us valuable points with Kimi and it’s clear we need to strengthen in this area.
“Today proves that we’ve got a fight on our hands in both Championships ahead of us, but like always we’ll embrace that challenge to stand back on the top step of the podium.
“Now it’s time to regroup and refocus back home at Lauda Drive and come back stronger in Austria in just a few weeks.”
GPFans contacted Mercedes for comment.
Though the images in the post did include snaps of Russell pouring champagne over his old team-mate and posing with fellow podium finisher Lando Norris, the 28-year-old wasn’t mentioned by name in the post.
This angered fans to say the least with many flocking to the comments to question the post.
“I’m not sure I see the fairness in this approach. I don’t know the full context behind your team’s decision, but I hope future posts can provide a more balanced perspective,” read one comment, whilst another noted: “I think a very tongue in cheek post, *disappointed you’ve no mention of your second driver, the VSC wouldn’t of made a difference… it’s like a bitter well done.”
One comment stated: “Congratulations to Lewis on a well-deserved victory. That said, George also delivered a strong performance, securing P2 in his 100th Grand Prix with Mercedes. It would have been nice to see that acknowledged in the team’s statement as well.”
Another social media user simply summarised their disappointment in the F1 squad by writing beneath the post: “Wow not mentioning your other driver that finished second, poor.”
The seventh round of the championship wasn’t just an average race for Russell either.
The six-time grand prix winner celebrated his 100th grand prix driving for the Brackley-based outfit last time out, something which fans felt made the fact that Russell was absent from the post even worse.
But not everyone felt that way given that Russell started the 66-lap race from pole position. One individual commented: “He did start the race from 1st position and ended it in 2nd , so not an overly positive thing,” which caused another to reply: “So why mention Kimis DNF then? Completely ignoring your driver getting on the podium in his 100th race for the team is diabolical.”
