George Russell believes his last two Formula 1 weekends have been among the strongest of his entire 2026 season, yet the Mercedes driver has made a remarkably candid admission ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix: Kimi Antonelli is currently faster. With the championship gap now at 66 points, George Russell accepts that his title hopes will require both improved performance and some good fortune.
The contrasting moods of the two Mercedes drivers perhaps could not have been illustrated more clearly than at Monza. Kimi Antonelli arrived with the enthusiasm and momentum of a driver increasingly at ease with the W17, while George Russell faced a weekend in which he was expected to capitalise on his team-mate effectively starting from the back of the grid.
Instead, Kimi Antonelli produced a remarkable recovery to win the Italian Grand Prix, with George Russell finishing second. The result was particularly difficult for George Russell because, by his own assessment, he had actually produced one of his strongest weekends of the year. As detailed in GP-News’ analysis of why George Russell’s strong Monza performance was not enough to beat Kimi Antonelli, the Mercedes team-mates reached the decisive phase of the race with very different strategic possibilities.
George Russell explains Mercedes’ Monza strategy
One of the unresolved questions after Monza concerned strategy. Having started on the hard compound, George Russell remained on track during the Virtual Safety Car period, whereas Kimi Antonelli was called into the pits. Mercedes had not been certain which approach would ultimately prove quickest because tyre degradation was so low that completing the entire race on one set of hard tyres appeared perfectly feasible.
The Virtual Safety Car reduced the time lost in the pits and therefore helped Kimi Antonelli complete his recovery. Even so, George Russell believes the underlying picture is relatively straightforward. At present, Kimi Antonelli is the faster of the two Mercedes drivers after finding both speed and a level of connection with the car that George Russell has struggled to reproduce consistently.
“In last week’s race, when Kimi made the pit stop, initially I thought I was on the right strategy, because in the strategy meeting that morning we had said that the quickest race, if possible, was to start on the hard tyres and make no pit stop at all, and that was faster than making one. And I think the reality is that, right now, he is faster than me,” George Russell explained.
“If I had stopped and he had stayed out, maybe he would still have won the race, maybe not, who knows. And that’s something I need to keep working on. I think the last two races have been, for me, two of my strongest weekends overall when you consider the whole weekend and the entire season. So from that perspective I’m satisfied, but obviously I need to keep improving.”
Kimi Antonelli’s pace changes the F1 title picture for George Russell
George Russell had already spoken extensively after the summer break about the pressure surrounding his championship ambitions. For much of the season, the British driver had to live with being regarded as a favourite and one of the leading candidates for the Formula 1 title. That pressure became an increasingly heavy burden, particularly when contrasted with Kimi Antonelli’s enthusiasm and more carefree approach.
During the first part of the championship, George Russell had attempted to move some of that pressure onto his team-mate, at one stage saying that “the title is now his to lose”. However, George Russell has yet to completely emerge from the difficult period that followed, even though his last two Grands Prix have hardly been poor in absolute performance terms.
At Zandvoort, George Russell managed to qualify ahead of Kimi Antonelli but then encountered the tyre-management difficulties in which his team-mate has held an advantage throughout the season. The Dutch Grand Prix had already highlighted the difficult decisions facing Mercedes, with Mercedes’ strategy between George Russell and Kimi Antonelli at Zandvoort becoming another important part of their championship battle.
At Monza, Kimi Antonelli recovered from the back of the grid to catch George Russell, but the British driver nevertheless resisted for a long time once the two became direct rivals, repeatedly responding to his team-mate’s pace.
The world championship now appears increasingly distant for George Russell. That is not simply because the deficit has grown to 66 points, but also because of Kimi Antonelli’s performance level. The Italian has continued to salvage strong results even at circuits that have proved more complicated for Mercedes, allowing him to maximise his opportunities across different types of track. Kimi Antonelli has consequently strengthened his position at the top of the Formula 1 drivers’ standings.
That is why George Russell says the championship is no longer a constant thought. His priority is instead to rediscover the outright speed he believes he has been missing.
“I think I’m definitely going to need a bit of luck and some good performances [for the title]. But it’s not something I’m thinking about because, as I said, at the moment Kimi is simply doing a better job than me. So he deserves to be leading the championship,” George Russell said.
“There’s still a long way to go, but Kimi hasn’t had a bad weekend yet in terms of performance. He’s driving exceptionally well. My performances have improved, but if I want to win this championship, I’m also going to need a bit of luck along the way. But that isn’t what I’m focused on. I’m focused on driving faster and finding more performance.”
Kimi Antonelli himself has played down discussion of the championship despite holding a 66-point advantage over George Russell, but the gap leaves his team-mate with increasingly little margin for error during the remaining races.
George Russell has changed his driving style to close the gap
Asked whether he could explain why Kimi Antonelli is currently faster, George Russell made clear that he believes he understands the reason and is already working to address it.
“I have an answer and I’m working on it. I think the situation has improved a lot. I’m really satisfied with the step forward I’ve made, because radically changing your driving style is something many drivers can manage to do,” George Russell explained.
“But then actually being fast with that new style is another story, and I think my performances since the summer break have been good: in all three qualifying sessions I’ve been ahead of him. My race pace has been on a par with his in these two races, and that wasn’t something I could say before the break. So, as I said, I’m very satisfied with the progress. We’ll see how the rest of the season goes.”
For George Russell, that progress is important even if it has not yet translated into an improvement in his championship position. He believes the last two race weekends demonstrate that the changes to his driving are beginning to work, but Kimi Antonelli’s consistency means progress alone is not enough. George Russell now needs to turn those improvements into greater outright speed if he is to apply pressure to his Mercedes team-mate.
George Russell also faces Mercedes power unit penalty
Another complication awaits George Russell later in the season. The Mercedes driver will also have to serve a grid penalty for replacing power unit components after losing several units during the campaign. Those problems have already cost him significant points, including his retirement in Canada while leading the race.
Mercedes does not intend to take the penalty immediately. Instead, the team plans to synchronise the change with the introduction of its upgraded power unit specification featuring the ADUO development. George Russell has already confirmed that his Mercedes engine penalty will coincide with the ADUO upgrade, allowing the team to combine the sporting cost of replacing components with the arrival of its planned performance development.
That future grid drop adds another challenge to George Russell’s already difficult championship situation. For now, however, his focus remains much more immediate: adapting his driving, extracting more speed from the Mercedes and finding a way to match a Kimi Antonelli who, by George Russell’s own assessment, currently has the upper hand.
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