George Russell entered the 2026 season as the favorite, but is currently only third in the championship—Mercedes is confident he’ll get back on track
Although many experts considered George Russell the clear favorite heading into the 2026 Formula 1 season, he trails his teammate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli by a whopping 59 points going into the summer break. That’s the equivalent of more than two race wins.
Mercedes Deputy Team Principal Bradley Lord explains in this context that Russell is currently facing a double challenge. Precisely because he was tipped as the favorite before the season, his performances are now being scrutinized particularly closely.
According to Lord, one shouldn’t underestimate “how big a challenge it is for the drivers when they find themselves in such situations three or four times a weekend and are told, ‘You’re the favorite—what’s going on? Why aren’t you performing as expected?’”
Russell did, in fact, win the season opener in Melbourne right off the bat—and, as many expected. After that, however, he celebrated only one more victory at Spielberg, while his teammate Antonelli racked up a total of six wins during the same period, including five in a row between China and Monaco.
“I think George undoubtedly had technical misfortune in various races,” Lord recalls, explaining: “For example, in China, where the car wouldn’t start properly for some strange reason, which affected his qualifying, or the penalty situation in Monaco, where the penalty was served incorrectly and this had further consequences.”
Was Russell really just unlucky?
In addition, the Briton retired while leading in Montreal due to yet another mechanical failure, and at Spa, a collision with Lewis Hamilton right after the start took him out of the race. Therefore, it’s certainly accurate to say that Russell lost a mid-double-digit point total in the first half of the season through no fault of his own.
The fact is, however, that not everything went smoothly for championship leader Antonelli either. The Italian, for example, also scored zero points in two races—in Barcelona and Silverstone—through no fault of his own. Therefore, it would be too simplistic to attribute Russell’s deficit solely to unfortunate circumstances.
Nevertheless, Lord emphasizes that Russell should not be written off just yet ahead of the second half of the season. He explains: “I think he’s fully aware that, while he may not be exactly where he’d like to be, he’s still fighting for the drivers’ championship, which is, of course, the ultimate goal for every driver.”
“As a team, we’re fully focused on winning the Constructors’ Championship for the first time in five or six seasons, and he plays a crucial role in that as well,” says Lord, adding: “Ultimately, he has the best overall package of the season so far, so this is the opportunity of a lifetime.
“And if he can recover and then fight back in the second half of the season, I’m really confident that we’ll see the very best of George,” Lord emphasized.
