George Russell goes X-rated against Mercedes in rant that Sky F1 viewers didn't hear

George Russell delivered an X-rated rant that wasn’t shown on Sky Sports F1 after crashing out of the Belgian Grand Prix, and he certainly didn’t hold back, suggesting a power issue was to blame for his first-lap collision at Spa.

Russell’s Belgian Grand Prix did not last long as he crashed out within seconds of the start.

The Mercedes driver was competing with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton heading into Les Combes. Edging slightly ahead as the pair approached the corner, Russell was clipped by Hamilton, who wobbled due to the battle between Kimi Antonelli, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc ahead of him.

Russell, who started third on the grid, spun into the gravel and, as a result, was out of the race.

Hamilton was handed a five-second time penalty for causing the crash, although Russell did not cast blame on his former Mercedes team-mate when speaking to Sky Sports after the 10th race of the 2026 campaign.

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Meanwhile, an X-rated radio message in the immediate aftermath of the incident has emerged, and it’s fair to say Russell was not happy with Mercedes.

“I’m out [of the race]”, Russell fumed: “What the f**k happened with the SOC (State of Charge) down the straight?”

“I had no f**king battery down the straight.

“Guys unacceptable, un-f**king-acceptable this whole weekend.”

Further elaborating on the incident involving Hamilton, he later told reporters: “I'm numb to the disappointment now, when it happens so often, you just get used to it.

“For whatever reason, the battery decided not to recharge at Turn 1. I went around the first corner, the battery didn’t charge, and I exited the first corner 35% down.

“Because it didn’t charge, I also had a boost problem. The turbo didn’t sort itself out, so I had no power. I got to the top of Eau Rouge with 0% on the battery. Quite frankly, it was dangerous.

“I got swamped by three cars. Shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place, and that’s why I’m most angry.

“The incident with Lewis, honestly, I think was a racing incident. He didn’t do anything reckless, it was just one of those things. “I’m just most angry that I was in that position in the first place.

"I was in a great position out of Turn 1, and I was ready to fight the two guys ahead of me up to Turn 5. Instead, I get swamped by three drivers.”

Toto Wolff responds to George Russell’s Belgian GP crash

The Mercedes chief was quick to shift blame away from Russell after the race, admitting that it was “100 percent” on the team rather than the driver.

Wolff said: "First is the racing, the accident that happened. It was unfortunate for us, we lost a lot of constructors' points and George [lost] drivers' points. And then we had an issue with all Mercedes engines, where we lacked power on the straight. And that bit him badly. It 100% goes on us."

“The power unit is so complex in the way you harvest, the way you deploy, the interaction from the driver," he added in a separate interview.

"We have a super-strong package, championship-winning chassis and power unit, but we're still trying to give it our best to fix the reliability issue.

“Sometimes in a new regulation, that happens.

“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, that was the most visible [issue].

“It's 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 doesn't make it better for him, and that probably accounted for half the gap, or a little bit more, that he had to Kimi.”

Despite Russell enduring a tough afternoon in Belgium, Mercedes will no doubt be pleased with Antonelli’s sixth victory of the season, as the Italian extended his lead over second-placed Hamilton to 55 points ahead of next week’s Hungarian Grand Prix.