This weekend, each Mercedes drivers had the brand new upgrades however Kimi Antonelli dominated qualifying and the race whereas George Russell did not fairly obtain the identical success. There’s a theme all through the season. How a lot of that’s right down to driver means, driving model and so on and the way a lot is right down to automobile set-up and technique. Is George higher than this or has he reached his restrict? – Julian
The dominant theme of the 2026 season has been the diploma to which Kimi Antonelli has stepped up his sport after a combined rookie season that contained some particular highs, but additionally fairly just a few difficulties.
In doing so, he has overwhelmed George Russell, who has accepted and is greater than prepared to say that Antonelli has merely finished a greater job than him this season.
Antonelli’s performances this 12 months have lived as much as the billing with which he got here to F1 – that he might be the game’s subsequent generational expertise.
He has had some luck, and a few of his wins have turned on fortune – security vehicles in Japan and Madrid, for instance.
However he has additionally carried out at a stage of constant excellence, and produced some completely standout performances, most clearly Monaco, Monza and Austin.
The Mercedes has on common been one of the best automobile, however Antonelli is the one one of many workforce’s two drivers who has all the time been an element. He absolutely deserves the world title that he’s virtually sure to clinch this weekend in Mexico Metropolis.
As for Russell, he has basically used driving model as an evidence for his relative struggles, saying the earlier vehicles suited his, and the brand new ones Antonelli’s. He has received solely three races in contrast with Antonelli’s 9.
On Sunday, workforce principal Toto Wolff stated Russell had struggled in Austin to get the correct set-up on the Mercedes with the brand new improve package deal, which has been problematic because it was launched in Malaysia.
Wolff stated: “George, for all of us within the workforce, is a champion and has received in each class and deserves to be put within the group of the easiest ones. And we have seen that final 12 months.
“This 12 months, we see this variability in outcomes. After we land the automobile in the way in which that fits him, he is completely fantastic. However when it drops out of that operational window, he struggles and he struggles greater than perhaps Kimi. And that’s on us.
“We simply need to work it out with him how there might be such a distinction in driving, in efficiency, as a result of George is just not half a second slower, three tenths slower than Kimi. That is simply completely not the case.
“So what’s it that he would not like? What’s it that we have to do when it comes to modifying the automobile, setting it up differently for him to go quick? As a result of it is all in regards to the intelligence, the flexibility, the willpower.”
Driving model and set-up are real causes for a driver to battle in sure circumstances.
Nevertheless, it is also a case that absolutely the elite, the all-time greats – drivers resembling Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso – are inclined to discover a strategy to be on the prime of their sport whatever the automobile’s behaviour.
The fear for Russell proper now’s that if Antonelli is at that stage – and it appears to be like as if he has the potential to be, given his performances in solely his second season – he could have his work lower out to beat him constantly sooner or later.
So he must regroup over the winter, come again subsequent 12 months and show he can get again on to Antonelli’s stage.
