According to Ralf Schumacher, George Russell should currently take a back seat as number 2 at Mercedes and hope that next year’s car suits him better
George Russell himself no longer really believes he has a chance of winning the 2026 World Championship. “I won’t say it’s over, but it’s extremely unlikely that I’ll be in that fight,” he said after the recent Formula 1 race in Madrid.
The Briton now trails his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli by 81 points in the World Championship, which is why expert Ralf Schumacher explains on Sky’s ‘Backstage Boxengasse’ podcast: “I think George Russell is now the number two.”
Russell must now “hope that the update or next year’s car suits his driving style a bit better”, said Schumacher, who explained that the 28-year-old is currently “totally unsettled”. He must therefore stay calm and “wait and see”, the expert emphasises.
After all, despite his current crisis, he needn’t worry about his place at Mercedes just yet – quite the opposite. “He’d have to get a lot wrong for that to happen,” says Schumacher, who compares Russell’s situation to that of Valtteri Bottas a few years ago.
Between 2017 and 2021, the Finn drove for Mercedes for five seasons alongside Lewis Hamilton, and Schumacher explains that there have already been “many number-two drivers” in Formula 1 like Bottas, “who have been around for a very, very long time [bei einem Team]”.
According to Schumacher, these drivers are characterised by the fact that they “can win races” if things don’t quite go to plan for the number one driver. “George can do that if Kimi were to have a problem,” the expert is certain.
Schumacher is therefore certain that Russell has “a very bright future” at Mercedes. Furthermore, the six-time Grand Prix winner points out: “If things get tight again in the World Championship, then Kimi Antonelli will of course need a good […] ‘wingman’ too.”
George Russell himself probably doesn’t see himself in that role. According to Schumacher, however, it would be helpful for him to accept his fate for the time being – at least for now.
