Russell concedes ‘my team mate has done a better job than me’

George Russell believes that over the course of the 2026 season so far, his Mercedes team mate Kimi Antonelli “has done a better job” and “deserves to be leading” the Drivers’ Championship, but he is not giving up on the title fight quite yet.

After a dominant opening round, Russell began to struggle as Antonelli went on a remarkable run of five Grand Prix victories, and while Ferrari and McLaren have taken wins of their own, the Italian driver has steadily eked out a 66-point lead.

It puts him in a strong position to become the youngest-ever champion, leaving Russell to admit that he’s under no illusions about the likelihood of overhauling his deficit over the remaining rounds.

He explained: “I'm not trying to be delusional, the reality is my team mate has done a better job than me this year. Had some bad luck but he deserves to be leading and right now he deserves to be in the position he is.

“From my side, I'm just going race by race, going to try and win as many as possible. If I want to win this championship I'm going to need some luck and that's where we are. I'm being quite realistic about the position we're in.”

The comments come after Antonelli stormed from a P19 start to win the Italian Grand Prix, during which he repeatedly went wheel-to-wheel with his team mate before demoting Russell to P2.

Asked how he has dealt with the loss, the Briton replied: “[I’ve had] good practice of processing stuff this year. I'm feeling good, taken positives away from every weekend. I would have loved to have won the race in Monza, loved to have continued that fight with Kimi.

“The fact is, he's just doing an amazing job right now and you have to give him credit for that. I've been making some good improvements and still want to keep on that journey to take the fight back to him. That's the mentality I have right now.”

He can put that into action this weekend, with the Madring set to host its inaugural Spanish Grand Prix. Being a brand-new circuit with plenty of unknowns, it could shake up the pecking order and create a chance for Russell to return to the top step.

“The level of everyone in F1 is exceptionally high,” he said. “It’s going to be a circuit where you need confidence.

“Very challenging, lots of high speed corners, aggressive kerbs. Going to be an experience for sure. Just try and keep out of the wall and build up to it.

“Every race is an opportunity. This circuit is among the most risky circuits of the season. You want to put everything on the line and go for pole and victory but how I approach this race, it's just going about business as usual.”