George Russell feels that the 2026 Formula 1 season has been a test of his resolve as his championship hopes have all but slipped away, but feels his soul-searching across the year has led him to a breakthrough in how to drive with the current cars.
Although Russell opened the year with victory, having been marked as the early championship favourite as Mercedes started the season with the fastest car, his team-mate Kimi Antonelli did not need long to find an advantage over his more senior team-mate and build his championship lead with strong early momentum.
Antonelli's successes and Russell's dwindling performances over the first half of the year led to much head-scratching on the Briton's side of the garage. Russell partly attributes his points deficit to bad luck, but also conceded that his performances were not up to scratch.
In his search for results, Russell feels he now understands the demands of the 2026 cars. His theory is that Antonelli's later application of the throttle pedal, and focus on the early phase of the corners – has chimed more easily with the 2026 cars.
"In terms of my mentality this season and my view of the championship as being up and down, early in the year when I had a big points deficit, the thing that was keeping me up at night was my lack of performance," Russell said.
"[I was] thinking like, 'How am I going to improve my performance? What do I need from the car? What does the car need from my driving?', rather than my opportunity maybe going amiss.
"I came from 70 points down to within 25 points post-Silverstone and then the gap extended and then, you know, Baku happened. That felt pretty big in terms of my chances again. And then, of course, one week later, it sort of kicked down again, and salt added to the wound with the grid penalty in Singapore.
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
"This season just hasn't meant to be. But I'm not bitter about it. I'll look back on the areas I could have done better and should have done better as opposed to things that have been out of my control that have gone against me.
"And I'd say as much has gone against me in terms of bad luck, there's been as much of my performances that haven't been to the scratch that I know I'm capable of. So, yeah, that's the reality of it."
Russell says that he was already sure of how to tackle the championship ahead of the season, having pursued the race-by-race approach that carried him to GP3 and Formula 2 titles in his younger years, and that the quest for improved performance overall played into that.
He says the championship battle hasn't unveiled anything new to him in that regard, but feels the difficulties faced over 2026 will make him a stronger driver in the long run.
"I fought for championships in my junior days, I knew how I wanted to approach it, and that was more by a race-by-race basis," he added.
"But, as I said earlier in the year when the performance wasn't there, I wasn't thinking about the championship. I was solely focused on the performance.
"This year has been a real test of my character and resilience through the tough races, the misfortune, and having to look at myself in the mirror and think, how do I want to bounce back from these moments? Do I want to cry about it and let it impact me negatively, or do I want to bounce back and fight and rectify it?
"And I think that's going to help me be a better person and better driver over the course of the next 10-15 years of my career."
Read Also:
Kimi Antonelli ready to "finish the job" as first F1 title chance beckons at US GP