Send for Hercule Poirot! The cry went up because George Russell’s little grey cells could not fathom what on earth was hampering him in Spa, where he qualified an ‘infuriating’ third for the Belgian Grand Prix. The mystery centred on his lack of power down the famous track’s power-ravenous straights. He ruled out a lot of suspects – his engine, his setup, his tyres, or his driving style. His brakes had been investigated, too, but were no longer under suspicion.Still, when Russell looked at his steering wheel, the numbers told him a dismal story of vanishing speed. Thus, the British title aspirant qualified half-a-second behind his boy-wonder team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who streaked to the sixth pole of his breakthrough campaign.Between Antonelli and Russell – each driving supposedly identical Mercedes machinery – came Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris. One stroke of luck for Russell was that Norris is due to be exiled 10 places down the grid today for taking on a new engine part and will start 13th.Russell, therefore, will line up directly behind Antonelli as he aims to narrow his 25-point deficit to the 19-year-old championship leader.‘There is something slowing me down,’ said Russell. ‘I am going full gas but I feel powerless. We don’t know what is going on. I don’t think it is the power unit. Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli celebrates after taking pole position for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix‘In practice on Friday, I was losing eight tenths on the straights, and today I am losing four tenths. So I suppose it is a step in the right direction…‘We saw this at Silverstone a fortnight ago, and we thought we had discovered the problem. We thought it was the brakes. It wasn’t.‘Then we thought it was my driving style with the throttle, and I convinced myself that it was something in me, but now we are very confident it isn’t my driving style.‘There is a serious issue at play, and although the team are working hard to resolve it, every lap I see on my steering wheel that I am way down. It is infuriating.’Spa’s 4.352-mile track is no place for a power shortage. The Kemmel Straight is voracious for oomph. And so, later in the lap, is the high-octane gallop through Blanchimont to the Bus Stop chicane.‘When I cross the line and see I am half a second down you feel pretty rubbish,’ Russell continued. ‘But when you realise more than 75 per cent of that is coming through power, you feel a bit better.‘The corners are the normal fight you would have for pole. But the straights are not. I am praying that ahead of Budapest next weekend we find the solution.‘I am not concentrating on the tyres, but on straight-line speed. It is a challenge when it feels as if you are battling with one hand behind your back.’All that sounded as if Russell is ruling out victory today, barring an unexpected twist, such as Antonelli suffering a variant repeat of his race-ending prang at Silverstone. Or a technical showstopper.Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, qualified fifth and sixth, prior to their Norris-prompted promotions up one place each.It was far from perfect for Hamilton, given he had shown promise earlier in the day. But he was mighty relieved to take part in qualifying at all, having crashed in practice barely more than a couple of hours before.The seven-time world champion’s rear-right wheel was left hanging on by its tether after a shuddering impact with a barrier at the Fagnes bend in the closing seconds of the session.‘I destroyed the car,’ Hamilton reported over the radio.It left his Ferrari mechanics in a race against the clock to fit replacement suspension, a new floor, rear wing and gearbox in readiness to send Hamilton out into the competitive fray. Job done by the boys in red, but it was hardly the ideal preparation.‘We’ve lost a lot of temperature in the garage,’ noted Hamilton, lying third in the championship, 32 points adrift of Antonelli. He was never in the hunt for pole. Just like Russell, who was last seen scratching his head.It’s over to you, M. Poirot.