Russell’s deficit explained, Red Bull starts, Sainz and more – round-up

Michelle Foster

27 Oct 2026 9:03 PM

George Russell and Carlos Sainz made the day's headlines

George Russell and Carlos Sainz made the headlines on Tuesday.

A quick look through the day’s big F1 news…

Toto Wolff explains gap between Mercedes drivers

Toto Wolff believes George Russell‘s struggles this season, which were evident at the United States Grand Prix, are due to the Mercedes having a small operating window.

While his teammate Kimi Antonelli is able to “outperform” the car, Russell has fallen foul of the W17’s narrow working window.

“On the other side,” said Wolff, “George just struggled so much, and I believe this is because the operational window of the car is so difficult.”

That has contributed to the disparity in pace between the teammates, with Antonelli winning the United States Grand Prix while Russell was only eighth, 54 seconds behind his teammate at the chequered flag.

Red Bull’s start problems need major changes for 2027

Already “p**sed off” with Red Bull’s clutch issues, Isack Hajdar isn’t going to be happy to hear that Laurent Mekies says it will only rectified via “significant design and hardware changes” that can’t be made until next year’s car.

Both Max Verstappen and Hadjar have struggled to get their RB22 cleanly off the line this season, the teammates again losing positions at the start of the United States Grand Prix.

“The clutch needs a redesign because at the moment it’s too fragile,” bemoaned Hajdar. “It’s not coping well with temperatures. It’s a real struggle.”

But while Mekies agree, he conceded: “It will require some significant design and hardware trends, design and hardware changes, and that this is something that we will see only next year.”

Lewis Hamilton expands on ‘pivotal moment’ at Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton says it is a “pivotal moment” for Ferrari in its F1 2027 development cycle,

Lewis Hamilton believes it is a “pivotal moment” for Ferrari in its F1 2027 development cycle, with the Briton helping to guide the Scuderia’s development.

Ferrari has won just two Grands Prix this season, Hamilton and Charles Leclerc taking one apiece.

Hamilton’s dream of winning an eighth world title this season will, barring a disaster for Kimi Antonelli, officially end at the Mexican GP as the Mercedes driver needs just two points.

Speaking about Ferrari’s development, Hamilton said: “This is the time where you actually start need to be making the decisions and actually calling ‘okay, these are the areas we’re losing.

“These are the areas that, if you fix these for next year, it’s half a tenth in every corner. These are the areas that we’re struggling with.”

F1 urged to decide between ‘Premier League’ and ‘Champions League’

As Formula 1 entered its penultimate triple-header of the F1 2026 championship, the last three following one after the other with only a week’s break between, Carlos Sainz says the sport’s bosses have to consider whether the intense end-of-F1 2026 schedule has reached saturation.

Although this year’s championship was reduced to 23 race weekends after Saudi Arabia was cancelled, it has a brutal run-in to the line.

After 12 races in six months, the calendar ends with 11 in just three months from 6 September to 6 December.

Sainz is worried it could drive fans away.

He explained: “When maybe you get so many races in a row, the sport can maybe feel a bit like a league, like Premier League rather than Champions League, so maybe you pay a bit less attention to the matches or to the races in this case.”

Lando Norris

Lando Norris says there was no disagreement with McLaren about his strategy at the United States Grand Prix. In fact, he says the team did a good job.

Norris was running up in second place on a one-stop strategy, but lost out to Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc on the same lap as they charged through on fresh tyres having opted for a two-stopper.

The McLaren driver was also overtaken by Lewis Hamilton, leaving him fifth on the day.

“So it was more: did we want to box and be safe and box onto another set of tyres, or did we want to stay out? And we just chose to stay out,” he said.