Can George Russell Turn His 2026 Season Around?

George is currently sat in 3^rd place in the Drivers' Championship, 59 points behind leader and teammate Kimi Antonelli and 9 points behind former teammate Lewis Hamilton. This is not where he expected to be coming into the season. In fact, Russell was tipped by many to be the title favourite. So what has gone wrong and can he turn it around?

As previously mentioned, Russell came into the season the favourite to take home the title. Why? This is because Mercedes were widely assumed to have built the most dominant engine for the 2026 regulation changes, and this isn’t exactly wrong. While Mercedes have been found by the FIA to qualify for ADUO (additional development and upgrade opportunities) by being 2% behind the bench markers of Red Bull Powertrains, this only looks at the internal combustion engine (ICE). Mercedes engine package as a whole has seemed to be the best throughout the start of the 2026 season. This incredible engine Mercedes have provided paired with the fact Russell is the senior driver at the team made him the natural choice to lead a title charge. No one could have predicted the rapid pace Kimi Antonelli has developed, which is causing George some headaches.

His 19 year old teammate has developed a lot quicker than expected, taking home his first win in China. He has won 6 of the 11 Grand Prix, claimed 1 sprint win, 6 pole positions and 9 podium finishes.

So what has gone wrong for George in the fist 11 rounds? He started the season beautifully, securing a pole-to-flag win at the season opener in Australia and went on to win the sprint race in China. Since, Russell has suffered multiple reliability struggles, which are not the easiest thing to deal with when you are trying to contend for a title. Notable reliability incidents include an electrical problem in China’s Q3, which he had to trundle back to the pits to fix and it left him with only one run to get the perfect lap and a DNF in Canada while in an intense battle with teammate Kimi Antonelli for the race win. He also had a deployment problem at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix, which left him dropping down the order down the Kemmel straight and then got spun out and beached by Hamilton when trying to defend his position. Other notable issues for Russell have been difficulty adapting his driving style to suit the new cars. Russell’s driving style is ultra-smooth, which worked fantastically in the ground effect era, however more aggressive driving styles seem to be a lot better with these new, lower downforce cars. And while he tried to regain some momentum after some disastrous races, notably with podiums in Spain, Austria (which was a win), and Silverstone, it was shattered following his DNF in Belgium and an anti-stalled race start in Hungary finishing 7^th to head into the summer break.

This leaves us thinking, can he turn it around? Grid drops are basically guaranteed for both Mercedes drivers heading into the second half of the season, however George is in a slightly better position than Antonelli in this regard. Antonelli has exhausted his allocation for multiple power unit components meaning he is under immediate threat of penalties, whereas George is not as a restricted yet. If he can strategically take competent changes and put off penalties until circuits that are better for overtaking, he has a better chance at point maximisation. Furthermore, Mercedes are bringing a major technical upgrade in Zandvoort. This will include a chassis improvement that targets balance and rear-end downforce. This should aid Russell’s smoother driving style slightly. Mercedes will also be introducing an engine boost as allowed by ADUO. It should focus on deployment optimisation to mitigate the straight-line power clipping and energy harvesting issues that have plagued Russell in races such as Canada and Belgium. Although Antonelli will be getting these upgrades too, they should help him in fighting off the Ferrari pair and hopefully help him achieve more consistent results.

Ultimately, Russell still has a chance to bring himself back into the title equation. The season is far from over and anything can happen in Formula One.