George Russell claimed he is ‘numb to disappointment’ but his pained face told a different story after his first lap collision with Lewis Hamilton ended his Belgian Grand Prix. Poor George is growing accustomed to summoning words to describe slings and Silver Arrows of outrageous fortune he cannot fully comprehend. His world title dream is in rising jeopardy and questions crowd his bamboozled mind. Why is he not as fast as Kimi Antonelli, the race winner and championship leader, in the same Mercedes machinery?Why is he suffering dramatic loss of pace in a straight line?Why are all the expectations he embraced as the pre-season favourite eluding him week after week? The story of his cameo at Spa nailed those doubts further into his frontal lobe. Starting third he was cleanly away – ‘a great first corner’, as he noted wryly – before he was practically reduced to running on the spot along the Kemmel Straight. George Russell crashed out of the Belgian Grand Prix after colliding with Lewis Hamilton Russell was sent into the gravel after being clipped by the Ferrari in the opening lap in Spa Sunday’s result serves as a major blow to Russell’s championship hopesHe slipped back to sixth, as if stuck in treacle, on the approach to Les Combes, the right-left combination. He was fractionally ahead of Hamilton’s Ferrari at this stage, but they were overlapping. His rear-right wheel entangled itself with Hamilton’s front-left. Russell spun around into the gravel, where he was beached. He held his gloved palms open in an expression of torment before climbing out of the cockpit unhurt, physically at least.Hamilton was handed a harsh five-second penalty for his role in the clumsy footwork, but went on to finish fourth – despite knocking over one of his mechanics in the pits. So, the seven-time world champion leapfrogged Russell as Antonelli’s closest challenger, 45 points back. Russell is 50 from the top. It was the third time in 10 races he had failed to finish.‘For whatever reason the battery decided not to recharge at Turn One,’ lamented a nonplussed Russell. ‘I exited the first corner 35 per cent down. The turbo didn’t sort itself out, so no power. I got to the top of Eau Rouge with zero per cent battery and quite frankly it was dangerous. ‘I got swamped by three cars and I shouldn’t have been in that position. It is why I am most angry.‘The incident with Lewis was a racing incident. He was more to blame than I was. But he didn’t do anything reckless or on purpose. A triumphant Antonelli, doused in champagne, shows off his driver’s trophy at Spa Lewis Hamilton’s day was certainly eventful, having skirmishes with Leclerc and Russell ‘It is something every day now. I am numb to disappointment. When it happens so often you get used to it.’ Russell’s travails here in Spa related to this year’s mind-bendingly complex engines, in which battery power is spent and recaptured each lap. They are so unfathomable that not even his most pointy-headed boffins can explain the intermittent lack of deployment that seems to be afflicting Russell more than anyone else. He complained on Saturday of a mystery problem that uniquely cost him – not Antonelli – time on the straights, and then in the race came a glitch he and his team principal Toto Wolff both confirmed was a separate issue. Will Mercedes, so far lost for answers, find solutions ahead of Budapest coming next weekend? They certainly owe Russell an explanation and a remedy.While the Englishman was kicking his heels in the paddock, 19-year-old Antonelli was in clear command on the track. His only concern came when a Virtual Safety Car, brought about by debris, permitted the Ferraris a cheap stop. Charles Leclerc lucked into the lead as a result.But Antonelli, his confidence soaring as the season ripens, made the decisive pass on Leclerc along the Kemmel Straight with 10 laps remaining. Thus the Italian secured his sixth victory of his campaign. Leclerc took second place, ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Hamilton’s day was eventful. Having survived his skirmish with Russell, he and Leclerc went wheel-to-wheel soon afterwards. The red pair nearly touched, hearts in mouths. Leclerc was feisty, as he also showed in an earlier brush with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Hamilton pitted with Leclerc and served his penalty there and then. That done, he was shown the green light to go. The mechanic holding the gun on the front-left tyre was still in his path and his right knee was caught by the accelerating Ferrari. He promptly fell to the floor while practically hugging the wheel.‘Oh, God, I am grateful my mechanic didn’t get hurt,’ said Hamilton. ‘I am looking at the lights, and am supposed to go when the car is dropping to the ground. I went. Then I saw him and stopped as soon as I could.‘All I could think about was when Kimi (Raikkonen) broke a mechanic’s leg (in Bahrain eight years ago). I thought that had happened initially, but he got up and moved.’The welcome medical bulletin did not prevent Ferrari landing a £25,500 fine, with £8,500 suspended for 12 months, for the unsafe release.Piastri came home fifth, a place ahead of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and two in front of defending champion Lando Norris, the old pal whose maiden title success Russell is trying to emulate. If only he were not driving with the handbrake on.