Mercedes reveal engine rev 'anomaly' behind Russell's nightmare P6-P21 start in Hungary

George Russell's disastrous start at the Hungarian Grand Prix has been fully explained by Mercedes, who confirmed the Briton was not to blame for the mechanical anomaly that sent him tumbling from sixth to the back of the field.

Russell started Sunday's race at the Hungaroring from sixth position, having gained a spot courtesy of team mate Kimi Antonelli's grid penalty, but his hopes of challenging the cars ahead were shattered in an instant. As the lights went out, Russell's car entered anti-stall and he dropped to 21st — ahead of only pit lane-starter Sergio Perez — forcing him into a remarkable recovery drive.

In the team's post-race debrief video, Mercedes Deputy Team Principal Bradley Lord detailed exactly what went wrong — and why Russell was fundamentally blameless.

"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 began.

"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.

"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."

An 'incredible recovery drive'

Lord went on to praise Russell for what he described as an "incredible recovery drive," with the Briton methodically working his way back through the field to cross the line in seventh place — a couple of seconds behind Red Bull's Isack Hadjar — and salvage a handful of championship points.

"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," Lord added.

"[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."

With drivers and teams now heading into the summer break, Russell sits third in the championship standings on 160 points — nine behind Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton and 59 behind team leader Kimi Antonelli.