World Championship lead gone: Why George Russell still feels no pressure

– George Russell entered the 2026 Formula 1 season as the big championship favorite with the bookmakers. After the first three races, however, the Briton is “only” in second place in the drivers’ world championship behind his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli.

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The Italian won the two most recent races in China and Japan, taking the championship lead in Suzuka for the first time in his career. According to his own statement, Russell is not worried about this now. “Not at all,” he clarifies.

After all, only three of the 22 season races have been completed, Russell reminds, also emphasizing that the two races in China and Japan could have gone very differently. “I know I have what it takes to fight back,” says Russell.

Had he had a bit more luck with the safety car in Japan, “I would have won, I’m firmly convinced of that,” he emphasizes, also recalling his problem in qualifying in China after he had Antonelli clearly under control in the sprint earlier in the weekend.

“Maybe I could have taken pole position there too and won the race,” explains Russell, who knows: “In racing, things sometimes go well for you, sometimes badly.” And he himself has simply had a lot of bad luck lately.

Russell: Problems for me always at the wrong time

“It just feels to me like at the moment, over the last two weekends, every problem we have is happening on my side,” says Russell, who was running with the wrong set-up in Japan from qualifying onwards, which he also had to take into the race.

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Added to that was the problem in qualifying in China, while the past two weekends for Antonelli, apart from his own mistakes, went much more smoothly. Furthermore, he always had the problems at the worst possible time, says Russell.

Photo gallery: Suzuka: The driver ratings from Marc Surer and the editorial team

“Sometimes people have problems in practice. We haven’t had a single problem in practice all season. I had the problems in qualifying,” he says with annoyance. In his opinion, he therefore had the potential to win all three races so far.

Team boss Toto Wolff also explains to Sky that Russell now has no reason to doubt himself. “No. I think he is so experienced that it doesn’t create any pressure yet,” he says with regard to the loss of the championship lead to Antonelli.

Wolff also emphasizes that the two most recent races did not always go against Russell “through his own fault.” He now has 19 more to correct that. “And everything can turn around again,” the Austrian knows.

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