(Motorsport-Total.com) – After three consecutive wins for Kimi Antonelli, it might seem like Mercedes teammate George Russell has to brace himself. However, it is still far too early to overreact now.
Since his opening win in Melbourne, Russell has watched as Antonelli gradually took the wind out of his sails. While Lando Norris secured the title in 2025, Russell had been waiting for his chance at the title with the Silver Arrows.
The new rules for the 2026 season may have given him exactly that chance. After all, Mercedes currently has the best car thanks to an outstanding combination of chassis and engine.
Season start with stumbling blocks
Russell promptly secured pole position at the season opener in Australia and took a flawless victory home. The one-two finish with Antonelli in second place was a supposed preview of the upcoming races.
Two months later, the picture looks a little different. Antonelli is a much stronger and more mature contender in his second season. At the next three consecutive races, the Italian teenager secured pole position.
While Antonelli was able to win three times in a row, Russell finished second, fourth, and fifth in China, Japan, and Miami.
This “weak phase” is a sign for many experts regarding the Briton’s championship chances. After the last races, it is very easy for those who get paid to exaggerate a bit. However, the reality, as so often in Formula 1, is somewhat more complex.
The first of three defeats for Russell was the result of technical problems in qualifying when his car stopped on track in Q3. After the hectic attempt to put in a lap, Russell qualified second, three tenths behind Antonelli. He had to start his lap with a compromised outlap without battery power.
At the start, Russell fell behind both Ferrari drivers, thanks to the quick start of the red cars. After passing both, he moved up to second place, but Antonelli was already out of reach.
Start weakness and poor setup
In Japan, a wrong decision on the front wing setup during qualifying had to be corrected, which again left Russell in second place. Although Russell looked faster in Suzuka than in China, both of Antonelli’s Q3 laps were fast enough for pole.
It looked as if the Italian was the faster of the two Mercedes drivers, and wrong setup choices cannot really be blamed on bad luck.
In Suzuka, both Mercedes again had a poor start. A recurring problem for the team that they want to continue to fix. Still, it was crucial that Russell was able to pass Antonelli at the start and was behind leader Oscar Piastri at the planned time of the only pit stop.
Shortly after, the safety car came out due to Oliver Bearman’s accident, giving Antonelli the chance to make a pit stop and move forward.
Special case Miami
Miami was a different case. From the start, there was no doubt who was the faster Mercedes driver that weekend. Except for SQ2, Antonelli was a step ahead of his teammate in every session. Only due to his track limits penalty did the Italian fall behind Russell in the sprint.
In both qualifying sessions, the gap between the two was about four tenths. Russell felt he lost about three tenths in his last run due to a mistake in the last corner. According to the Briton, Miami is simply a track he does not like because of the grip conditions.
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“I’ve always had problems on this track. Kimi was on pole last year, I was fifth. Today he is on pole and I am fifth. There is simply little grip here, you slide around a lot and the asphalt is hot. It’s similar to Brazil, where Kimi was also faster than me. I prefer tracks with a lot of grip where tires and car bite more into the track.”
The Briton’s yield in Miami is modest. He has never qualified in the top 5 here or scored more than a single podium.
Certainly, this also has to do with the fact that Mercedes has not been nearly as strong as in previous car generations. At the same time, Antonelli has easily beaten him in every qualifying session, even in his rookie season.
Russell did not look for excuses and spoke of a “really, really bad” race in terms of pace. In the end, he was 43 seconds behind his teammate. The last 20 laps were a kind of test drive for him, during which he was able to bring brake balance and differential settings much closer to Antonelli’s setup. The effects were “bigger than I expected,” said Russell.
“It was a very difficult race. The pace from my side was really, really bad. I had a few ideas. Honestly, I used the last 20 laps as a kind of test drive and tried to drastically adjust my driving style and change the differential and brake balance settings. And that helped. I can hardly wait for the next races when we race under more normal conditions again.”
Russell could use Antonelli’s hat-trick of start-to-finish wins as a reason to worry on one hand. On the other hand, he could focus on the overall situation. Due to his mix of bad luck and Miami slump, he is 20 points behind Antonelli.
No panic for Russell
With 18 races remaining, this gap sounds almost negligible, especially when thinking about the gap Norris had to close last year to become world champion.
Russell seems to view the situation this way in his eighth Formula 1 season. He is unlikely to be thrown off course by minor hurdles. “Of course, [Kimi] is currently in a fantastic position, and the momentum is with him.”
“But I have enough experience with winning championships myself to know how quickly things can turn in a championship. You just have to look at last year’s championship.”
“Honestly, I don’t think about it. I just want to win again. In the first three races, I had the performance for exactly that. This weekend I absolutely did not, so I could now be standing here with three completely different results and an outlier, but of course things went differently in Japan and China. That’s Formula 1 sometimes.”
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Team principal Toto Wolff also sees no reason to worry: “I have always said: George would not be a Grand Prix winner if he didn’t have a killer instinct. We analyze such things, look at the data, and come to conclusions.”
“The conclusion here is that he has never really felt comfortable on this track and never really liked the smooth surface. That’s just how it is. Done. Tomorrow we look forward to Montreal. There are still 18 more races to collect points.”
Hope in Canada
Canada is one of Russell’s best tracks with two wins. In 2025, he was able to beat Max Verstappen from pole position here, while Antonelli finished third. The year before, he was also on pole and set exactly the same time as Verstappen in Q3.
In the end, he finished third behind the Dutchman and Norris. The race at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve sounds like the perfect opportunity for Russell to get back into the title fight. If Antonelli manages to carry his momentum into the European season, then the discourse will probably be completely different again. But so far, everything is still open, and it is far too early for an overreaction.
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