George Russell arrives at this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix with an answer to the question that has dogged him since Austria: Mercedes has found and fixed the electrical energy deployment problem that left his car down on power across three consecutive races.

The issue — a glitch in how the car's hybrid battery releases stored electrical energy to assist the engine — first surfaced at the Austrian Grand Prix and persisted through Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps. Mercedes admitted after the Belgian Grand Prix that something was wrong with the car's energy management, but initially could not pinpoint the cause.

Russell explained the difficulty plainly: "These new power units are just exceptionally complex, and there was something deeply embedded in the calibration of the code that was almost impossible to see unless… you knew exactly what to look for" (The Guardian). He added that the nature of the Spa and Silverstone circuits — both long and power-hungry — made the shortfall impossible to hide.

The consequences were real. At Spa, Russell was knocked out of the race after a collision with teammate Kimi Antonelli. He attributed the incident to lacking electrical energy deployment exiting turn one, which left him a sitting duck on the run up the Kemmel Straight. Antonelli went on to win the Belgian Grand Prix and stretch his championship lead over Russell to 50 points.

Russell also stood by his pointed radio messages during that race. "If you sit there and not express any views, maybe you find an issue, maybe you don't, you don't move forward," he said. The frustration, in other words, was part of the process.

Mercedes are not the only team wrestling with the new power-unit formula. McLaren's Oscar Piastri also reported a lack of electrical energy during qualifying at a recent round, leaving him two-tenths of a second adrift of teammate Lando Norris. McLaren, too, have been unable to identify the variables in their deployment systems — a sign that the 2026 regulations, with their heavily revised hybrid rules, are catching out even the sharpest engineers in the paddock.

The timing of the fix matters for the championship picture. Mercedes currently lead the constructors' standings, and Lewis Hamilton has won six of the last ten rounds heading into the August break (Reuters). Russell, meanwhile, sits 50 points behind his teammate Antonelli in the drivers' title race and needs a clean weekend in Hungary to keep the deficit from ballooning further.

For Russell, the Canadian Grand Prix in May — where an engine failure forced him into retirement — already felt like a reset. He said afterwards that the pressure was off and he had nothing to lose in the championship fight. That was before the electrical gremlin took hold. Now, with the bug identified and resolved, he has a chance to race on equal terms again.

"I'm feeling good and glad there are some positive answers that have come back from the battery," Russell said, "and it's eyes forward now."

Away from the track, Formula 1 is weighing changes to the 2026 calendar. A return of the Malaysian Grand Prix is under consideration, potentially slotted between Baku and Singapore on 4 October. Bahrain had been a candidate for that date, but renewed hostilities in the Middle East make it highly unlikely. Meanwhile, Portimão in Portugal is being lined up as a fallback venue should the final two races of the season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi be cancelled.

For now, though, the spotlight is on Budapest. Lights out on Sunday — and for Russell, a fresh start.