– George Russell sees his chances of winning the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship after the Spanish Grand Prix reduced to a minimum. The Mercedes driver was beaten for the fifth consecutive time in Madrid by his teammate Kimi Antonelli and is now clearly behind the Italian.
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In qualifying at the new Madring, Russell did not get beyond sixth place. The Brit cited the tires as the main reason for his lack of pace. “I tried to push hard in turn 11, but the tires couldn’t keep up,” Russell explains.
The race also did not go as desired. Russell had contact with Oscar Piastri in the McLaren at the start but apparently was able to continue his Mercedes without major damage. Shortly after, however, the virtual safety car caused an unfavorable timing for his first pit stop.
Safety car costs Russell a better strategy
Russell started on hard tires and actually wanted to stay on this set as long as possible. During the early VSC phase, however, he switched to medium tires, while most competitors were able to optimally swap their soft or medium tires for hard tires.
“The timing with the safety car was just very frustrating. We had hoped to get to lap 40. We knew that Kimi and the drivers on medium and soft would come to the pits around lap 15, and the safety car came on lap 14,” says Russell.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff also admits that the race weekend did not go smoothly for Russell. “The weekend was uneven. Q1 or Q2 was really good, he felt the car, and then today, we have to see why there were these fluctuations,” Wolff explains.
Russell had at times “extremely struggled” and then suddenly was “miles the fastest.” Mercedes therefore still needs to analyze whether Russell can manage the tires particularly well at certain times, Wolff continues.
Russell fights back towards Leclerc
Charles Leclerc, who was immediately ahead of Russell at that time, stayed out on track and made his pit stop only on lap 48. Despite the additional pit stop and fresh soft tires on the Ferrari, Leclerc came under pressure from the Mercedes towards the end of the race. The Monegasque narrowly saved fourth place to the finish, Russell finished fifth.
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Wolff explains the different strategy with the risk Ferrari had to take. “They had to keep him out and hoped for a red flag or a race stoppage. We were so close, we really switched, and they didn’t do that because they also wanted to gamble on a win.”
“The hard tire was by far my superior tire. Staying out on the medium would have been a big risk. I thought I had nothing to lose. In the end, I probably would have ended up where I did anyway. That’s of course a bit of a shame,” Russell explains after the Grand Prix.
“The performance was clearly better than the result”
However, Russell did not blame pure race pace for his result. “The performance was much better than the result,” emphasizes the Mercedes driver. At the same time, the race in Madrid reminded him of Monaco, where overtaking is also difficult and starting position plays a particularly big role.
“It was in a way similar to Monaco regarding qualifying position, which decides everything,” says Russell. While Russell had to be satisfied with fifth place in Madrid, Antonelli already celebrated his eighth win of the season. The 20-year-old Italian impresses with twelve podiums from 14 Grands Prix.
Russell’s championship deficit grows to 81 points
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Within the past five races, Antonelli has extended his lead over Russell from 25 to 81 points. Russell is aware that given his teammate’s consistency, he has little room left to significantly reduce the deficit in the World Championship. Theoretically, nine races remain.
“I won’t say it’s over, but it’s extremely unlikely that I’m in this fight,” admits the 28-year-old. He therefore no longer wants to focus too much on the overall standings but concentrate on the individual races and get as many wins as possible there.
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This threatens the championship fight for Russell to slip out of reach much earlier than hoped. Antonelli has built a comfortable lead with his impressive consistency, while Russell is mainly dependent on making the most of the remaining race weekends.
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