Toto Wolff reveals 'new issue' behind mysterious George Russell Mercedes engine problem

Toto Wolff has offered new insight into the mysterious engine problems affecting George Russell, including a "new issue" in the Belgian Grand Prix.

Russell was particularly vocal over the Belgian GP weekend that he was struggling with straight-line speed in his W17 machine, and lost four-tenths alone to Kimi Antonelli in the final sector of the lap in qualifying. 

Unrelated to this, on the opening lap of the race, Russell suffered a sudden and unexpected loss of power out of Turn 1, leaving him to be "swallowed" up on the run to Les Combes, where he ultimately collided with Lewis Hamilton and retired.

Speaking about the ongoing problems affecting the Briton, Wolff described how Russell was affected at Spa alone and then revealed how all eight Mercedes HPP-powered cars were impacted during the race.

"With George over the weekend, there was definitely something on the engine that we have identified that meant he had less energy to deploy into Turn 18 (the Bus Stop chicane)," Wolff began to tell media, including RacingNews365. 

"It is good that we spotted it here because in Budapest, which is not energy-starved, it would have been more difficult to identify, but it still does make it better for him, and it probably accounted for half the gap, or a little bit more, that he had to Kimi [in qualifying]. 

"When it comes to [the race], all Mercedes engines had a lack of energy out of Turn 1, so it wasn't only George; it affected him more than Kimi, but Kimi also had the issue to a certain degree, and that meant he didn't come out at the end of the straight in P3, but P5.

"So he lost two positions, and then obviously the accident with Lewis, it is unfortunate for losing points from him, and in the constructors' championship."

Turning to the issue on the opening lap at Spa, Wolff indicated that it was unrelated to Russell's previous complaints.

"It was a new thing," he said.

"It was something that we wouldn't have identified on the simulator because you need to look for it, and so it was a new issue."

As for Russell's ongoing woes, Wolff quantified just how much time he was losing on the straights.

"The impact was that he had more energy available at the beginning of the lap and less at the end of the lap," Wolff continued.

"But in terms of optimisation, it was a deficit, and we believe that the deficit was about two, to two-and-a-half tenths in qualifying modes, and much less on the long runs."