Formula 1 expert Ralf Schumacher believes that George Russell is not telling the truth when he claims that he is not worried about the World Championship
Although George Russell won the 2026 Formula 1 season opener in Melbourne and is currently second in the drivers’ championship, the Briton could be considered one of the losers of the first three races of the season. After all, Russell had actually started the new year as the top favorite.
The bookmakers already saw the 28-year-old ahead in the winter, and numerous Formula 1 experts were also tipping Russell as the 2026 world champion before the first Grand Prix. However, after the first three races, he is behind his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli in the championship.
Ralf Schumacher can therefore imagine that Russell is slowly “getting nervous” because he “just can’t get it together”, said the expert on Sky’s Backstage Pit Lane podcast. Antonelli recently celebrated two victories in a row, while Russell even missed out on the podium in Suzuka.
There were reasons for this, some of which Russell could not control himself. But Schumacher still believes that the Briton went into the forced Formula 1 break in April with a chip on his shoulder. “Of course it stinks for him,” said Schumacher with regard to the current championship standings.
“He has now thought: ‘Okay, this year is my year. The Mercedes is great’,” the expert suspects. But instead, Antonelli is now ahead for the time being. “That shows that he’s probably not as good as he should be for now,” criticized Schumacher.
Because Russell will be driving his eighth Formula 1 season and his fifth for Mercedes in 2026. Antonelli, on the other hand, is only in his second year in the premier class and therefore has “a lot of potential” to improve even further, according to Schumacher.
Schumacher: Russell pretends in interviews
“The biggest problem for George is that he’s not fast enough at the moment. He knows that himself,” Schumacher suspects. After the race in Suzuka and the associated loss of the world championship lead, the Briton was deliberately relaxed in public.
But Schumacher doesn’t buy it. “I don’t think George is authentic in terms of personality,” explains the six-time Grand Prix winner, adding that Russell is actually “much more dogged” but doesn’t want to show it publicly.
“I think he’s playing a certain game,” says Schumacher, who explains that Russell shows his true colors on the radio, for example. “He’s less in control in the car than outside,” says the expert, who explains: “He’s trying to play something that doesn’t fit.”
In his opinion, this is not the right approach. Schumacher reveals that Norbert Haug, the long-standing head of Mercedes motorsport, gave him some important advice during his own career. He said to him: “Ralf, you can do anything in life.”
“You can be an arse sometimes, but do it in a way that people can understand,” Haug advised him and explained: “If you’re not authentic, if you’re always playing a role, nobody will buy it in the long run.”
This is exactly the problem Schumacher currently sees with Russell.