Russell says Mercedes did not let him down after 2026 title defeat

Reflecting on his title defeat to Kimi Antonelli, George Russell said he did not believe Mercedes had let him down, despite reliability problems that repeatedly interrupted his 2026 campaign. Antonelli clinched the championship after the Mexico City Grand Prix. Russell said such setbacks happen in racing and nobody intended them.

Russell began the year as the overwhelming title favourite and won the Australian Grand Prix from pole. A battery problem stopped him on track in Q3 in China, leaving him with only one run; an engine failure then ended his Canadian Grand Prix while he led. He also counted the Monaco drive-through penalty among his setbacks, saying it should not have been a drive-through.

Deployment problems hit in Britain and Belgium, and he encountered further power-unit trouble while fighting for podiums in Bahrain and Malaysia. In Mexico, a deployment problem on the opening lap dropped him from second on the grid to sixth at Turn 1. He then collided with Isack Hadjar and received a 10-second time penalty.

Russell said Mercedes' 2025 car had been extremely reliable but the team still finished fourth in the championship. He described the 2026 car as fast but unreliable; despite being set to win both championships, Mercedes remained dissatisfied, he said.

Russell said the setbacks compounded, but he could not quantify their effect on the title fight because momentum mattered. He also wondered whether, after those setbacks, the pressure to stop Antonelli pulling further ahead had led him to overdrive and try to overachieve; he said he could not answer that and was not looking to answer it. The season, he said, simply had not been the one he wanted.