George Russell explains mindset after tough start to 2026 F1 campaign
Mercedes driver George Russell has insisted that he “didn’t really lose faith” during a challenging start to his 2026 campaign.
While the British driver won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and the Chinese sprint race, he endured a series of unlucky moments as his teenage team-mate Kimi Antonelli took the championship lead.
After winning the sprint race in Shanghai, he faced car issues during qualifying for the grand prix and qualified second behind Antonelli. The two Mercedes drivers finished in the same positions.
In Japan, Russell’s strategy was hampered by an ill-timed safety car, which was deployed one lap after he had pitted. He ultimately finished fourth while Antonelli claimed his second win of the season and became the youngest driver to lead the standings.
The Miami Grand Prix saw Russell miss out on the podium again with a fourth-place finish at a track he openly admits he does not gel with. At the Canadian Grand Prix, however, the 28-year-old seemed to be back to his former self. He won the sprint race from pole and was leading the grand prix after an intense battle with his team-mate until a catastrophic battery failure left him stranded on the side of the track.
Unfortunately for Russell, the misfortune continued in Monaco, where he became one of multiple drivers to be hit with a pitlane speeding penalty. This was then upgraded to a drive-through penalty after the initial punishment was not served correctly. He crossed the line to finish 12th.
He then finished the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix second behind Lewis Hamilton after the Ferrari driver successfully pulled off a three-stop strategy, and he returned to the top step of the podium in Austria.
The Mercedes driver faced another challenging British Grand Prix when he suffered a slow puncture as he was battling four-time champion Max Verstappen for third place. As a result, he pitted and came back out on track in seventh behind Isack Hadjar. But capitalising on his team-mate suffering a dislodged wheel shield and a late-race safety car after Verstappen became beached, Russell finished second in front of his home crowd.
While reflecting on the tough moments so far this season during an appearance on the Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show, he explained: “I must say it was strange emotions. Because as I said, I felt that a good result and a deserving result was potentially third place behind Kimi and Charles.
“Then obviously, Kimi was very unfortunate with what happened. Then Max had his issue. Lewis pitted under the safety car, which I think was probably the right decision. I think whatever you do in that situation, if you don’t pit and it restarts, you’d be kicking yourself, why didn’t you? And if you do pit, you lose a position. There’s no right decision.
“So to then get back up to second, it was quite strange emotions. Because it felt like the whole race had gone against us. Then suddenly, I’ve been thrown back up into second place through nothing really we did.”
He added: “And that’s how seasons often go. That’s why I didn’t really lose faith early in the season when everything seemed to be going against us. And it always does turn. And as I said, it was a special moment to be up there.”
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