{"id":817336,"date":"2026-07-21T23:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T23:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/817336\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T23:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T23:08:09","slug":"f1-news-george-russell-investigation-explained-lewis-hamilton-penalty-disputed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/817336\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 news: George Russell investigation explained, Lewis Hamilton penalty disputed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday\u2019s fast-paced F1 news includes Mercedes<\/a>\u2019 findings into George Russell<\/a>\u2019s DNF, Ferrari\u2019s take on Lewis Hamilton\u2019s penalty and Red Bull\u2019s thoughts on Mercedes\u2019 PU.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s blast through the day\u2019s main headlines at breakneck speed\u2026<\/p>\n

Mercedes has provided answers over George Russell\u2019s frustration<\/p>\n

Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust.<\/p>\n

Mercedes deputy technical director, Simone Resta, confirmed there have been \u201cdeployment differences\u201d between George Russell and Kimi Antonelli at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

While the team\u2019s initial theory centred on differences in driving style between the two drivers, once Russell addressed that at Spa, the issue lingered on his side of the garage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing a lot of analysis, and we came to the conclusion that one of the major contributors was related to driving style, different driving style between the two cars,\u201d said Resta.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge studied that quite a lot and was able to change it and adapt going into Spa, but still, we can still see some difference of deployment between the two cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more: Mercedes confirms initial George Russell findings after Belgian GP investigation<\/a><\/p>\n

Ferrari baffled by \u2018harsh\u2019 Lewis Hamilton penalty<\/p>\n

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur felt Lewis Hamilton\u2019s time penalty during the Belgian Grand Prix was a harsh one.<\/p>\n

After contact with George Russell at Les Combes, the Mercedes driver was left beached in the gravel and was forced to retire on the first lap, with the stewards handing Hamilton a five-second time penalty.<\/p>\n

Asked if he felt Hamilton\u2019s penalty was harsh, Vasseur told PlanetF1.com and other media after the race: \u201cYes, because so far this season all of the incidents of Lap 1 were considered as racing incidents and, on this one, the person [Russell] had far enough space to not close on the right and go on the left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more: Fred Vasseur disagrees with Lewis Hamilton Belgian GP penalty after George Russell clash<\/a><\/p>\n

Max Verstappen\u2019s next race engineer?<\/p>\n

Tom Hart is set to replace GianPiero Lambiase as Max Verstappen\u2019s Red Bull race engineer for the F1 2027 season, it has emerged.<\/p>\n

It comes after the Red Bull performance engineer opted against a move to Williams to remain with Red Bull.<\/p>\n

Read more: Red Bull finds GianPiero Lambiase replacement after Williams move abandoned<\/a><\/p>\n

Mercedes rule out backing Kimi Antonelli\u2019s title tilt<\/p>\n

Mercedes will not back Kimi Antonelli\u2019s Formula 1 title bid with team orders, despite the Italian extending his championship lead over George Russell at the Belgian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s race at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit was a contrasting tale for the Mercedes pairing, with Antonelli clinching the victory, while Russell retired on the opening lap after being spun into the gravel by Lewis Hamilton.<\/p>\n

Although his Spa DNF has dropped Russell to 50 points behind Antonelli, his deficit doubled in one afternoon, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has ruled out backing Antonelli\u2019s title quest with team orders.<\/p>\n

Read more: Mercedes rejects team orders despite Kimi Antonelli\u2019s 50-point lead<\/a><\/p>\n

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tuesday\u2019s fast-paced F1 news includes Mercedes\u2019 findings into George Russell\u2019s DNF, Ferrari\u2019s take on Lewis Hamilton\u2019s penalty and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,1613,44,82],"class_list":["post-817336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-home-page","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}