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George Russell has called upon himself to improve his performances to become the 2026 Formula 1 world champion after early domination from Kimi Antonelli.
Russell was the pre-season favourite due to Mercedes being expected to master the regulation switch and although that’s been the case, his team-mate Antonelli has held the upper hand.
The 19-year-old has won five of the opening nine races compared to just two for the Briton, who endured vast bad luck to give Antonelli a 68-point advantage after round six in Monaco.
Russell looked good for pole in Shanghai until a Q3 mechanical issue, he was set to finish ahead in Japan before an untimely safety car, and an engine failure also put him out of the lead in Montreal.
But bad luck has struck Antonelli across the past three rounds as a power unit issue cost him second in Barcelona, before dropping from the podium to out of the points at Silverstone on Sunday due to a broken wheel shield.
So the gap between the Mercedes drivers is now 25 points after Antonelli’s issue and a late safety car following Max Verstappen’s crash gave Russell his first British Grand Prix podium with second.
Yet the 28-year-old isn’t getting ahead of himself because, despite chipping away 43 points, the championship leader has still been quicker and would’ve beaten Russell in Spain and Britain had issues not struck.
“The feeling was good but the lap times were slow,” said Russell about his Silverstone pace. “There were things outside of my control that contributed a lot towards that and things in my control.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, George Russell, Mercedes
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Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, George Russell, Mercedes
“I’m still struggling to understand this car. I'd probably still leave this weekend, albeit extremely grateful to stand on the podium, less satisfied than probably Canada when I broke down from the lead.
“If I want to fight for the championship, the performances need to be better. I need to be better. I need to be working better with my team. We need to be maximising everything.
“We've got a close fight now with Ferrari so it's not just Kimi and I. Lewis [Hamilton] is still very close - it needs to be improved.”
The bad luck excuse is something Russell used earlier in the campaign, but he’d also acknowledged in Monaco that Antonelli had adapted to the 2026 cars much better.
So although he’s “not sure” if the luck between the pair has now “balanced out” after Silverstone, the seven-time grand prix winner still recognises that the championship deficit he holds is fair.
“Based on my performances and based on his performances over the course of these nine races, I think a 25-point gap in his favour is probably correct,” added Russell.
“He has done a better job than me this year to this point, so he deserves to be ahead of me.
"Whether it should be 25 points, whether it should be 10 points, whether it should be 35 points, is a debate. “But in that ballpark, I think anywhere from 10 to 30 points behind is probably about fair."
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