Well, that was quite a fight we saw on July 19 between Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc in Belgium, wasn’t it? Mano a mano on the most majestic track on the calendar.

The 2026 breed of Formula One cars, with their 53 per cent internal combustion engine horsepower and 47 per cent electric hybridisation power, can be odd machines, however. Not as odd as they were at the beginning of the year before the 50/50 power split was modified and drivers found they were having to ease through some corners in order to maintain sufficient electrical power to get themselves down the next straight at top speed. But not the responsive and consistent steeds of yore, either.

Ask George Russell, but time your approach sympathetically because he’s getting rather vexed by the weird performance of his Mercedes of late, and was by far the unhappiest man in Spa-Francorchamps after getting wiped out by Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap. Oddly, he was the first to call that a racing incident (even though the stewards gave Hamilton a five-second penalty for his part in the incident), and here’s why.

“I got totally swallowed up on the straight, and lost three positions,” Russell explained. “I was actually considering how I could challenge for the lead. What happened with Lewis was a racing incident, but it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t suddenly lost speed on the straight. I had no power, it was all gone. It’s very disappointing.”

Max Verstappen had just overtaken Kimi Antonelli for the lead on the run down to the famous Eau Rouge corner immediately after the start of the race. It looked spectacular, but it was premature.

“Clearly, too much deployment from Turn 1 to Turn 2!” he laughed. “Then I went through Eau Rouge, looked at my battery status and thought, ‘Well, that’s going to be a difficult run to Les Combes.’ I expected Kimi to come by, and then I looked in my mirror and just saw a red rocket comin...