George Russell says the way his 2026 Formula 1 season unravelled was “tough to deal with” after Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli won the drivers’ championship. Russell began the year as a title favourite and won the opening race, but struggled as Antonelli built momentum.
In an Instagram post, Russell congratulated Antonelli on an “absolutely incredible season”, adding that the Italian “truly deserved the championship”. Russell said the season had started as he hoped before being derailed by “tough luck and poor performances”. He described it as the first proper season of his career with more bad days than good, and said he had often felt confused.
Russell has won three races to Antonelli’s nine. His sixth-place finish at the Mexico City Grand Prix, where Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton finished ahead of Antonelli, dropped Russell to fourth in the championship. Verstappen moved into second, ahead of Hamilton.
Russell started the Mexico race second, behind Hamilton, but an energy-deployment glitch left him short of power off the line. He was then involved in a collision with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar at Turn Six and received a 10-second penalty.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said Russell was distraught after the race and allowed him to miss his post-race media duties. Wolff praised his sportsmanship for going to see Antonelli and said Russell’s response was understandable. Antonelli also acknowledged that Russell had suffered bad luck, describing his team-mate as “super-quick” and saying he would come back.
Russell thanked Mercedes for producing what he called the season’s best car and power unit. He said he would give his all for the rest of the season and into the next one to rediscover his performance, adding that he hoped some luck would return.
Sources: BBC Sport.