Exclusive: George Russell shares 'clear' verdict over recent F1 struggles

Heading into the current F1 campaign, George Russell would have had grand designs of a straightforward and unencumbered route to his first drivers' championship.

It would by no means be easy, as triumphing in Formula 1 rarely is, but if compatriot Lando Norris was favourite for the crown heading into the season before, this time around the title was being considered most certainly Russell's to lose.

So much so, some corners of the press and pockets of social media were treating 2026 almost as if some sort of pseudo coronation, as if the Mercedes driver was about to embark on a 24-round victory tour.

But things seldom pan out how they are meant to, and not only will the F1 calendar fail to reach its usual number of events this year, the emergence of Kimi Antonelli from Russell's shadow has well and truly put the cork back in that particular bottle.

The Briton's campaign got underway as it was supposed to in Melbourne, with a comfortable win from pole, but from there, a cocktail of misfortune and poor form has left Russell staring down the barrel of a 59-point deficit to his young team-mate as F1 heads into its summer break.

Sitting down with RacingNews365 for an exclusive interview over the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, the 28-year-old reflected on a season that has thus far failed to live up to its early promise.

"It has been a very challenging season, up and down," Russell says. "This car has been more challenging for me to find the sweet spot of performance.

"I've either had races where I've been on pole and fighting for victory, or I've had races where I'm in P4 or P5, and this has been for a number of different reasons, and ultimately just coming down to the confidence and comfort I have with this new car."

External difficulties

After his victory in Australia, Russell could barely catch a break. Bad luck ruined his chances in China and Japan, and he was outmatched by Antonelli in Miami, before even more bad luck intervened in Canada and Monaco — in the most extreme, yet different, ways — to leave him third in the standings, at that point 68 points behind Antonelli.

Unlike under the previous, contemporary ground effects generation of Formula 1, Russell has struggled to get his hands around the new era of cars, and his formidable showing in Albert Park appeared to be a false dawn.

His team-mate has gelled with the W17 more quickly and is more at home with the peculiarities and idiosyncrasies of the current regulations. What was roughly a three-tenths of a second delta in Russell's favour last year has turned into a pace advantage the other way in 2026, something that has compounded the bad luck.

However, the Barcelona-Catalunya and Austrian Grands Prix offered Russell a reprieve as he punctuated the equilibrium of his torrid campaign, finishing second in Spain before his second victory of the year at the Red Bull Ring.

"Every weekend I'm learning something new," he contends. "I think Barcelona and Austria were two really great weekends for me, and I was hoping to build on that momentum."

However, whilst Antonelli's own bouts of misfortune left Russell only 25 points behind the Italian after the British Grand Prix, the cruel hand of fate has twisted and contorted yet again, swinging back away from the seven-time grand prix winner.

"And then, of course, the last two weekends [at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps] have been challenging for different reasons," he adds. "So, hopefully, these external difficulties are behind me now, and we can look forward to brighter days."

Of course, those words were uttered before more poor luck — courtesy of a power unit issue off the start line — and a lack of performance in qualifying left Russell to fight his way back through the field to seventh at the Hungaroring whilst Antonelli took a ninth podium from the opening 11 rounds of the year.

Plotting his renaissance

The British driver recently said that at this point he is "numb" to disappointment amid the difficulties he has endured across the campaign.

Suspicions of a problem with his power unit — which was subsequently changed before the race in Budapest — and questions surrounding his driving style have been the lead theories over his conspicuous loss of form, and Mercedes and Russell have been forensically investigating the nexus of the setback.

The team feels it has found the answers to the issues plaguing his W17, and Russell has likened adapting to the new machinery this year to trying to copy the Mona Lisa, astutely pointing out that no one will get it right the first time.

He also compared the learning process to a golfer altering the mechanics of their swing, underlining the complex process he has undertaken to fight his way back to being the driver who went toe-to-toe with Lewis Hamilton, when the seven-time F1 drivers' champion was on the other side of the Mercedes garage.

Russell maintains he now understands the nucleus of his testing campaign, akin to the Eureka moment Charles Leclerc experienced at the British Grand Prix.

"I definitely clearly see where it is coming from," he adds. "I noticed it post-Monaco; it was this clear moment, and that's why I was very pleased with the race in Barcelona.

"I was on pole, finished second, pole again in Austria, won the race, and felt the momentum was building. But then, obviously, to arrive in Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, to have those challenges, sort of put a stop to that momentum."

And despite those rounds — as well as the Hungaroring — depriving him of his hard-earned impetus, Russell is adamant that an unexpectedly tormented first half of the season is behind him.

"But that is history now," he concludes, as he plots his renaissance for when F1 returns from its summer break.