The reference point is Hamilton, not Russell. Boutsen’s argument, laid out in comments to RacingNews365, is that the seven-time champion suffered through exactly the kind of season his former Mercedes team-mate is having now, and came out the other side.

“Lewis had the same problem as George last year… self-confidence, the car not going very well, and the addition of all these details made it look bad, very bad, but Lewis is still Lewis,” Boutsen said.

Boutsen added that the fix arrived with the machinery.

“As soon as the car gets better, he makes it, and he won the race in Barcelona. I was very happy for him.”

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Reliability failures on Russell’s side

The numbers from the summer break fit the parallel. Russell sits third in the drivers’ standings on 160 points, 59 points behind team-mate Kimi Antonelli and behind Hamilton’s 169, who overtook him during the first half of the season.

The mechanical bill has been the story on his side of the garage: power unit problems in China and Canada, another power unit issue at Spa that led to first-lap contact with Hamilton and retirement, and anti-stall on the grid at the Hungarian Grand Prix start, according to Motorsport Week.

Former driver David Coulthard put it more bluntly in the same piece.

“It’s been a shocker. How much bad luck can one person have?”

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Russell has stopped trying to spin it.

“It’s just been a bit of a rollercoaster, you know. It’s really not been a smooth season whatsoever,” he told Formula1.com before the shutdown.

“The break probably couldn’t come at a better time.”

Hamilton second, 50 points off Antonelli

Hamilton is now the one banking podiums for Ferrari. His Spanish Grand Prix win in Barcelona ended a long wait for a Maranello victory, and he heads into the second half of the year 50 points behind Antonelli with 12 races to run.

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The seven-time champion is not talking down what remains.

“I really believe we can fight,” he told reporters ahead of Hungary.

“There’s still a lot of work to do and still a mountain to climb ahead of us on the second half of the season but I’m more focused than ever and I really believe we can fight.”

Boutsen closed his argument with a line borrowed from Niki Lauda.

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“Niki Lauda said that you never learn anything from winning. You learn a lot when you lose, because there’s a lot of things that you need to improve.”

Racing resumes at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort on 23 August, with Hamilton needing to eat into a 50-point gap to Antonelli and Russell hoping the Mercedes reliability run finally settles.

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