George Russell ‘on the ropes’ as pundits weigh in on ‘painful’ Mercedes reality

George Russell is not the only driver who has experienced a shift in momentum against his teammate this season, but the consequences could be brutal for the Mercedes man.

Mercedes entered the F1 2026 championship as the pre-season favourite, with the Brackley squad tipped for success as Formula 1 introduced new engines, having done so in 2014. And Russell was supposed to lead the way.

George Russell faces Kimi Antonelli title defeat at Mercedes

Instead, it’s Antonelli who has one finger on the championship trophy.

While Russell has secured two grand prix wins this season, the Italian has eight to his name.

The Italian overhauled Russell to lead the drivers’ championship at the Japanese Grand Prix on April and has extended his lead to 81 points.

Russell concedes Antonelli has been doing a better job.

“I’m not trying to be delusional; the reality is my teammate has done a better job than me this year,” he said. “Had some bad luck but he deserves to be leading and right now he deserves to be in the position he is.”

It is a notable turnaround from last season when Russell outscored Antonelli by 319 points to 150.

But it is not the only momentum shift in F1’s new technical era. Having lost to Charles Leclerc last season, Lewis Hamilton is now the leading Ferrari driver, while Oscar Piastri, who led a large portion of the championship in 2025, is struggling to match Lando Norris.

Appearing on the Up To Speed podcast, former McLaren and Red Bull driver David Coulthard said: “I think what we’re just seeing is, in the same way that this year’s formula has suited Lewis more relative to Charles, there’s been a swing in their performance from last year to this year.

“Oscar has dropped off form relative to Lando, where he was leading the world championship up until Baku last year.

“So, it’s swings and roundabouts of this formula.

“We’ve got Kimi coming alive and George is on the ropes.”

The Scot, who won 13 races in F1, says he is impressed with how Russell has dealt with losing to Antonelli, especially with a world title at stake.

“But in fairness to George,” he continued, “he’s come to terms with it. He’s fronting up to the media. He’s answering the questions.

“He did an interview with Martin Brundle over the weekend where he said, ‘Look, Kimi is just doing a better job than me right now.’ I think that’s a big man who can admit that publicly.

“We would all be thinking it, but sometimes racing drivers bury their heads in the sand, and it’s just one excuse after another.

“But I believe in George. I feel for him. It’s a championship that’s slipping away, but he’s still young enough in his career that he’ll have his moment.”

Kimi Antonelli v George Russell: F1 2026 scores

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates

F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates

Coulthard isn’t the only former driver applauding Russell’s attitude as he faces the prospect of losing the title to his teammate, who is only in his second season in F1.

2016 F1 world champion Nico Rosberg told Sky F1: “I’m very impressed with George’s approach because he’s really a perfectionist and he tries to cover every aspect of his human performance.

“I know he’s doing everything he can, and I admire that.

“But, all the more, it’s tough for him because he doesn’t understand himself. He’s always been fast; he’s always been at least level with his teammate and suddenly it’s gone away from him there.

“It’s really painful because you start to doubt yourself. It doesn’t matter how confident you are, it then comes [to questioning] ‘am I not good enough? Was I better in the past and I’m just doing something wrong now?’ It’s really difficult.”

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