George Russell insists he ‘never had any doubts’ as Mercedes delivers title car
George Russell says he never had any doubt that Mercedes would come good and give him a competitive car.
George Russell has said he’s always had faith that Mercedes could eventually give him a car capable of fighting for wins and championships.
The British driver is driving the car that has started the season with a clear pace advantage over the rest, placing him in good standing for a championship tilt in 2026.
George Russell always believed Mercedes would return to title contention
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After the first three race weekends, Mercedes is 45 points clear of Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship, while Russell is second in the Driver’s Championship.
Having won the first race of the season, Russell has been bested by Kimi Antonelli in China and Japan as the Italian has won his first races in Formula 1, but, with Mercedes a clear step ahead at the start of the new regulation cycle, Russell is still the favourite to land a maiden title.
This is due to his far greater experience than Antonelli, with Russell coming into the usual peak years for a driver after gaining wisdom over the last seven years since his debut. In contrast, Antonelli is only at the start of his second campaign.
It’s the first time that Russell has been given a car that is clearly a step ahead, having stepped up to Mercedes from Williams at the end of 2021.
With Mercedes having been at the forefront of the sport between 2014 and ’21, Russell may have expected to be able to immediately fight for wins and championships.
But his arrival coincided with the regulations changing to ground effect and, with Mercedes making a misstep with its car concept, was left fighting for scraps behind the dominance of Red Bull and the competitiveness of Ferrari.
Nevertheless, Russell did manage to score his maiden victory that season, courtesy of a stellar drive in Brazil, and he also scored multiple podiums en route to a fourth-place finish overall.
Victory eluded him in 2023 as Red Bull dominated the season, with only Ferrari managing to break its stranglehold, and he netted eighth place overall, followed by sixth in 2024 and fourth again in 2025.
Having put in four years in which he’s never quite had the machinery for anything beyond occasional victories, that pattern now seems broken with the W17 starting the regulation cycle as the class of the field; not only is the power unit the standard-setter of the five manufacturers, but the chassis is tidy.
“No doubt the power unit is exceptional, but there are three other teams who have got the same power unit, and we’re clearly a lot faster,” Russell said in Japan.
“So, clearly, the chassis is very good, as well as the package. I think there has been a very good job, paired very well, especially around the energy management, where it’s so challenging right now.”
With Mercedes giving him a car that seems championship-worthy in the fifth year of the partnership, Russell said he was always certain that his team would eventually come good, having joined the squad right as it fell off the boil after a near-decade at the front.
“I never had any doubts,” he said.
“The truth is, Formula 1 is so, so competitive, and unfortunately, we just got it wrong at the start of 2022. We were on the back foot and just struggled to recover that lost time.
“I think something you have to admire Toto [Wolff, team boss] for is that, when you look at the team today, it’s the same team as the same group of engineers and designers as it was during the glory years, it’s the same group of individuals who were there during the years of struggle, and it’s the same group of people today.
“I think being loyal to those people through the ups and downs, there are big dividends; there’s a lot of trust and so much hard work that has gone on with everybody to get us back on top.
“So I didn’t know it was gonna be 2026, but I always had faith that my time would come.”
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But, while the momentum might be with Mercedes at the very start of this rules cycle, Russell said he’s not taking anything for granted; performance gains are likely to be quite large in the early stages of development, meaning that the competitive picture could evolve significantly through the year.
Russell pointed out examples such as 2022, where Ferrari’s strong start was overhauled by Red Bull, and 2009, where Brawn GP was also overhauled by Red Bull, and said he’s hopeful the same thing doesn’t happen to Mercedes this season.
“It’s definitely possible,” he said.
“I think it’s even more important to look at years like 2022, or even 2009, where these teams started off very competitive, but then, by the end of the season, there was another team that was more competitive.
“So we hope that isn’t going to be us, and we think we’ve got some more good development in the pipeline. But we have to recognise that we have very strong competitors.
“We hear Red Bull is a bit overweight. McLaren hasn’t bought an upgrade to the car yet. Ferrari is looking very strong. So it can also change.”
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