George Russell’s difficulties against Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the 2026 Formula 1 season can be traced to a combination of power unit characteristics, reduced rear-end grip and Pirelli tyre changes that have undermined some of the Mercedes driver’s greatest strengths. While Antonelli has adapted exceptionally well to the new regulations and secured the world championship, Russell has struggled to reproduce the performances that made him one of the grid’s leading drivers during the ground-effect era.
Mercedes has returned to winning ways in Formula 1 after more than five years, but not with the driver many expected to lead its challenge at the beginning of the season. Russell has emerged badly beaten from his comparison with his newly crowned world champion team-mate. Although misfortune explains part of the gap between them, the remainder reflects a series of largely one-sided performance comparisons, particularly on race days.
After four years of consistently strong performances in the ground-effect era, including two seasons operating at the very highest level, something has changed for the British driver. Russell has struggled for long stretches of 2026, delivering only a handful of weekends at his absolute best.
The Mercedes driver has repeatedly pointed towards the new power units, but also the cars themselves and their tyres. Understanding his difficulties requires examining how these elements interact and how fundamentally the 2026 generation differs from the previous ground-effect machinery.
Why George Russell’s driving style clashes with the 2026 F1 power units
The influence of the power units was already examined by Autoracer during the summer, when the precise nature of Russell’s difficulties remained a sensitive subject. In particular, the successive races at Silverstone and Spa exposed differences between the British driver’s natural style and the demands imposed by the new engines.
Russell traditionally focuses on the middle and exit phases of corners, accelerating earlier than many of his rivals. However, under the 2026 regulations, this approach can require greater electrical energy deployment during acceleration, potentially leaving less energy available towards the end of a straight, where the driver has little direct influence over the resulting speed loss.
“I’ve always been a driver who focuses on the middle and exit of the corner, which means I get on the throttle earlier than many others. With these power units, that means using more energy,” Russell explained last Thursday.
Autoracer has monitored his progress over recent months, and there are clear indications that the Mercedes driver has adapted his approach. One example is the percentage of each lap spent at full throttle, which has decreased compared with the opening months of the season.
Nevertheless, driving style alone does not explain everything. Russell has also experienced power delivery problems during the opening laps of important races, including Spa and Mexico City, significantly compromising his results.
At the Mexican Grand Prix, his top speed on the first straight was 30 km/h lower than that of Antonelli and the other drivers in the leading group. The speed deficit contributed to another difficult race for the British driver, who also received an FIA fine after missing his post-race media commitments.
Why Kimi Antonelli’s driving style suits the Mercedes W17 better
Despite Russell’s progress in adapting to the energy-management requirements, a substantial performance gap remains across different types of circuits, including those where electrical energy limitations are less significant.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s driving style is particularly well suited to the 2026 cars. The Italian is aggressive on corner entry and focuses on rotating the car quickly through the middle of the corner, allowing him to exploit characteristics that appear to be rewarded by the new regulations.
Starting with the braking phase, Antonelli adopts a considerably more aggressive approach when turning into corners. Both the new-generation cars and their power units appear to favour this characteristic.
Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris provide further examples, having both enjoyed excellent seasons in terms of performance. By contrast, Russell, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc do not naturally belong to the same category of drivers and have not benefited in the same way from the regulatory changes.
This interpretation could partly explain Hamilton’s resurgence and the improvements made by Norris and Antonelli between 2025 and 2026. It is also consistent with previous analysis of the differences between Antonelli’s driving technique and the characteristics of the Mercedes W17.
However, corner entry represents only one part of the explanation. Another potentially more important factor concerns the middle and exit phases of corners, precisely where Russell has traditionally built much of his performance advantage.
George Russell faces an Oscar Piastri-style problem with reduced rear grip
Russell’s difficulties have some similarities with those experienced by Oscar Piastri, although the two drivers do not have identical driving styles. Both benefit from high levels of rear grip when trying to optimise their approach through the middle and exit of a corner.
The previous ground-effect cars were particularly well suited to this requirement. Their Venturi tunnels generated enormous aerodynamic downforce beneath the floor, frequently providing a stable rear axle that allowed drivers to exploit that grip.
The 2026 generation cannot reproduce the same levels of rear-end stability, and the changes introduced by Pirelli have further complicated the situation.
The 2026 tyres were developed using modified 2025 test cars, commonly known as mule cars, and must cope with substantially higher torque resulting from the greater electrical contribution of the new power units.
Pirelli has sought to address these demands through a relatively straightforward measure: increasing minimum starting tyre pressures.
On average, minimum rear tyre pressures have risen by approximately 3 psi compared with 2025, whereas front tyre pressures have increased by only around 1.7 psi. This difference has altered the relationship between the two axles, reducing available grip and changing how drivers can exploit their cars.
George Russell explains how Pirelli tyres have limited his natural driving style
Speaking during the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend, Russell directly linked his difficulties to the combination of higher rear tyre pressures and the characteristics of the 2026 power units.
“Tyre pressures this year, especially at the rear, are very, very high. That has also penalised my driving style on corner exits. The rear doesn’t follow me as it used to, and the power units haven’t helped. These two factors have limited my natural driving style,” he explained during the press conference.
Russell’s preference for high levels of mid-corner grip has therefore become a disadvantage compared with previous seasons. With less rear-end adhesion available, the Mercedes W17 does not respond as he would like when accelerating out of corners, creating a chain reaction that affects his overall performance.
The issue becomes particularly noticeable when the tyres cannot provide optimal grip. Antonelli has been better able to exploit the available performance, particularly in sections where traction and vehicle rotation are critical.
Mercedes qualifying and race data reveal the scale of Antonelli’s advantage
The qualifying comparisons illustrate how much Russell has struggled relative to his team-mate. In the third sector of qualifying laps, Antonelli’s average advantage exceeds one tenth of a second, against an average seasonal advantage of approximately 0.15 seconds over Russell.
Looking specifically at the final sector of their respective best qualifying laps, Russell has outperformed the Italian on only three occasions: Melbourne, Barcelona and Mexico City.
The comparison stands at 3-11 in Antonelli’s favour, underlining the consistency of the world champion’s advantage.
The difference becomes even more pronounced in race conditions. Antonelli has demonstrated superior race pace compared with Russell at every event except Shanghai, where the British driver had the advantage.
Russell, who previously competed for Williams, has been unable to match his team-mate’s effectiveness in managing tyre performance. That ability has been one of the defining strengths of the Antonelli-W17 combination throughout the season.
The contrast was already evident earlier in the campaign, when Toto Wolff addressed George Russell’s difficulties against Kimi Antonelli. The Mexican Grand Prix confirmed the outcome of their championship battle, with the Italian securing the drivers’ title.
Could the 2027 F1 regulations help George Russell recover?
The remaining races of 2026 offer Russell an initial opportunity to demonstrate improvement following his team-mate’s championship success. However, the more significant opportunity could arrive in 2027, when another substantial evolution of the technical regulations is expected to change the balance between the cars, tyres and power units.
Autoracer was among the first to highlight that the differences between the current machinery and the cars being developed for next season should not be underestimated.
Predicting exactly which drivers will benefit from those changes is impossible, but the revised technical package will create a different balance for teams to understand and optimise.
A reduced electrical contribution from the power units should allow drivers to move away from some of the extreme, counterintuitive driving techniques they have been required to adopt during 2026.
Meanwhile, Pirelli’s new compounds for 2027, which are being tested using current cars and power units, could make it possible to lower the minimum starting tyre pressures.
For Russell, both developments could be significant. Less restrictive energy-management demands and improved rear tyre grip would potentially allow him to return to a driving approach closer to the one that brought him success during the previous regulatory era.
Whether those changes will be sufficient to restore his competitiveness against Antonelli remains uncertain. The Italian has proved exceptionally effective with the current Mercedes W17, and there is no guarantee that a different generation of machinery will automatically reverse their performance comparison.
Nevertheless, the arrival of new cars, revised power units and different Pirelli tyres could offer Russell the opportunity to rediscover the strengths that made him one of Formula 1’s leading performers. The question is whether 2027 will finally allow the British driver to show his full potential once again.
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