'I am past the point of disappointment': George Russell aims to stay positive

[p]The Mercedes driver will get one ⁠for sure, with Formula 1 going on vacation until the end of August after Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, but another track nightmare had the ‌Briton at the end of his tether.[/p][p][b]"I am past the point of disappointment now," [/b]he told ‌reporters after another race ruined by a technical glitch.[/p][p]"If I continue to ‌be disappointed with everything that goes on, I will just be disappointed every day ‌of the week.[/p][p][b]“I have got to stay positive ... my pace was as ‌strong as anyone out there, and I haven’t been there for the past two or three races so I will take the positives, but, it is unbelievable the list of things ‌that have gone wrong this season."[/b][/p][embed guid="ebc4f934-ecdc-4f52-818f-d8ba5160fca3" url="https://x.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/2081410773947973835" social-type="twitter" /][h2]Pre-season favourite now far behind[/h2][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/russell-george/xxF56RaN/"]Russell[/a], the pre-season title favourite, is ‌now 59 points behind championship-leading teammate [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/antonelli-andrea-kimi/ptGu0mT1/"]Kimi Antonelli[/a] after 11 of a possible 23 ​rounds.[/p][p]On Sunday, he had lined up sixth on the grid and ahead of the 19-year-old Italian only to plunge to the back of ​the field on the opening lap when the gremlins he thought had been expelled suddenly returned when the anti-stall activated.[/p][p]He fought back to seventh, but that ⁠was hardly damage limitation with ​Antonelli on the podium in third place.[/p][p][b]“I was on the throttle holding the revs, and four seconds before the lights went out, the engines started revving all over the place - the engine wasn’t reacting to the throttle. It is a ‌brand new engine. No idea,"[/b] Russell explained.[/p][p]“The problems are happening to me, but the whole team feels it, too, so they are as pissed off with it as I am.[/p][p][b]"We are not the only ones, but it feels like it is happening substantially more to me than others. Hopefully it swings round. I don’t wish any bad luck on anyone but I haven’t had a season like this in my entire career."[/b][/p][p]Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said Russell's misfortune was "fully on us as a team and it isn't good enough.[/p][p][b]"He has ‌suffered too many of these problems. We are doing everything we can to ​get on top of them, but it is unfortunately another issue that ‌has cost him today."[/b][/p][p]Russell has won two races this season to Antonelli's six and finished three without points. In Belgium last weekend he spun out on the first lap after contact with Ferrari's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hamilton-lewis/tI5Vpe1h/"]Lewis Hamilton[/a], for which the seven-time champion was penalised.[/p][p][b]"I can’t be disappointed with things outside of ⁠my control,"[/b] said Russell. [b]"I usually don’t ⁠feel like I need a ‌break but this year I definitely feel like I do.”[/b][/p]