Mercedes reacts 'powerfully' to crisis meeting claims after Belgian GP outing

12:20, 09 Aug

Co-author:Samson Ero

byLudo van Denderen

Mercedes were reported to have held a crisis meeting following the Belgian Grand Prix to determine the direction for the remainder of the season, according to some media speculations ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. However, the team has denied these claims.

The race at the Belgian Grand Prix marked yet another event where Mercedes struggled to challenge for the front runners, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli finishing only 16th. Reports suggested that the team’s technical heads, along with drivers Antonelli and George Russell, were summoned to Brackley for a crisis meeting — a claim Mercedes insists is untrue.

Mercedes say 'Rumours were nonsense'

Mercedes has clarified that while a meeting did take place at the factory, it was not an emergency gathering. Speaking to a small group of media, including GPblog, team representative Bradley Lord explained:

“So we have quarterly, what's called a driver development meeting, where the drivers and a broader cross-section of the technical side of the team meet.”

No crisis meeting at Mercedes, says Mercedes

“And that was planned and had been planned for many months for Monday. So it happened to coincide rather than it being a hastily-called crisis meeting or everything else that we've read.”

“That meeting took place, and rather than being in the detail of each race weekend, it's a chance, sort of every couple of months, for everyone to step back and just take a look at the evolution of performance over several races,” Lord explained.

According to Lord, the disappointing result at the Belgian Grand Prix played no part in the meeting. However, a week later, the Mercedes team would bounce back in Hungary with George Russell securing a third-place finish at the Budapest race.