A furious George Russell launched an expletive-laden rant at Mercedes after retiring from the Belgian Grand Prix, labelling his weekend "un-f---ing-acceptable."
Russell collided with Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap after losing all battery down the Kemmel Straight and being surrounded by chasing cars.
In radio messages which emerged after the race, but were not broadcast on Formula 1's global television feed, Russell could be heard venting at his team about his car's state of charge (SoC).
"I'm out, what the f--- happened with the SoC down the straight? I had no f---ing battery down the straight! Guys, unacceptable. Un-f---ing-acceptable this whole weekend."
It has become the growing theme of Russell's season, with power deployment issues also hampering his qualifying effort on Saturday in Belgium, having been a complaint at previous races too.
Russell felt he should never have been in the position to collide with Hamilton in the first place and placed the blame squarely with his team.
"I made a good start, I made a great first corner and I was tucked up right behind Verstappen [in second place]," Russell said to the media later. "But for whatever reason the battery decided not to recharge at Turn 1, so I went around the first corner, the battery didn't charge and I exited the first corner 35% down [on battery charge].
"And because of that, because it didn't charge and I also had a boost problem, the turbo didn't sort itself out, so I had no power. I got to the top of Eau Rouge with 0% on the battery -- quite frankly, it was dangerous -- and I got swamped by three cars.
"I shouldn't have been in that position in the first place, that's why I'm most angry. With Lewis, honestly, I think [it] was a racing incident."
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The English driver came into the weekend willing to trial different driving styles to see if that was the reason his car was not harvesting energy -- a crucial element of Formula 1 this year with its new cars -- the same as teammate Kimi Antonelli.
After qualifying, he said he had confirmation the issue was not down to driving style.
The retirement --coupled with Antonelli's victory -- means Russell is now 50 points behind his championship-leading teammate approaching the midway point of the season.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff later said Russell's bad weekend was "100% on us" and said his angry reaction in the immediate aftermath was justified.
"It's completely understandable that the moment you're out of this race, it's so frustrating and the emotions boil," Wolff said. "That's why I completely understand. But he has our 100% support. We are trying to solve all the issues. He's doing everything he can to get on top of his driving. I'm going to try to put my arm around him."
