Although the gap to his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli has now grown to 68 points, George Russell remains confident: He can still become World Champion
This is certainly not how Mercedes driver George Russell had imagined things would go: The Briton failed to score any points in either Canada or Monaco, while teammate Kimi Antonelli claimed victory in both Grand Prix races. As a result, Russell’s deficit in the Drivers’ Championship has now grown to 68 points.
Is the 19-year-old Italian’s lead perhaps already too big to catch up to as the season progresses? “No, it isn’t,” Russell says confidently. “You just have to look at Verstappen last year, but I have to work my way out of this situation myself.”
“I don’t know how we keep ending up in the same situation. There are definitely things I need to improve. But I also know what I’m capable of on clean weekends, and that’s why the whole thing is just frustrating.” In Canada, an engine failure ended his race; in Monaco, a team error led to another zero-point finish.
“I still firmly believe in myself and know what I’m capable of,” says Russell, who hasn’t lost faith in his first Formula 1 world title: “We’re not even 30 percent through the season, but a lot of points have already been lost.”
George Russell: “Never experienced such a run of bad luck”
The 2026 season has so far unfolded differently than the Briton had hoped—especially after last year, which was arguably the strongest season of his Formula 1 career to date. Following the Monaco Grand Prix, Russell has even dropped to third place in the drivers’ championship, behind Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton.
“I’m in a very strange mental state because I’ve experienced difficult phases in my career before, where I personally had two or three bad races in a row,” Russell admits. “But I’ve never experienced such a streak of bad luck.”
“That didn’t happen when our car was only good enough for seventh place two years ago, or when it was a car for third or fourth place last year. Now I have a competitive car, and that’s why this feels particularly painful. But the season is still long.”
Russell is convinced: So far, we’ve simply lacked luck
“I still firmly believe in myself,” says the Mercedes driver, remaining calm. “I also believe that starting at the end of this year, we’ll be fighting for race wins again. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t continue that next year. But right now, it’s difficult.”
Russell is convinced that with a little more racing luck, the situation would look much more even. At the same time, however, the 28-year-old also acknowledges the strong performance of Antonelli, who is now delivering at the highest level after a mixed rookie season last year.
“If I look at things objectively,” says Russell, “I think it would still be extremely close if luck had been distributed a bit more evenly. He’s done a fantastic job. But I think I’d have at least two more wins under my belt.”
