This weekend, both Mercedes drivers had the new upgrades but Kimi Antonelli dominated qualifying and the race while George Russell didn’t quite achieve the same success. There is a theme throughout the season. How much of that is down to driver ability, driving style etc and how much is down to car set-up and strategy. Is George better than this or has he reached his limit? – Julian
The dominant theme of the 2026 season has been the degree to which Kimi Antonelli has stepped up his game after a mixed rookie season that contained some definite highs, but also quite a few difficulties.
In doing so, he has overwhelmed George Russell, who has accepted and is more than willing to say that Antonelli has simply done a better job than him this season.
Antonelli’s performances this year have lived up to the billing with which he came to F1 – that he could be the sport’s next generational talent.
He has had some luck, and some of his wins have turned on fortune – safety cars in Japan and Madrid, for example.
But he has also performed at a level of consistent excellence, and produced some absolutely standout performances, most obviously Monaco, Monza and Austin.
The Mercedes has on average been the best car, but Antonelli is the only one of the team’s two drivers who has always been a factor. He fully deserves the world title that he is almost certain to clinch this weekend in Mexico City.
As for Russell, he has fundamentally used driving style as an explanation for his relative struggles, saying the previous cars suited his, and the new ones Antonelli’s. He has won only three races compared with Antonelli’s nine.
On Sunday, team principal Toto Wolff said Russell had struggled in Austin to get the right set-up on the Mercedes with the new upgrade package, which has been problematic since it was introduced in Malaysia.
Wolff said: “George, for all of us in the team, is a champion and has won in every category and merits to be put in the group of the very best ones. And we’ve seen that last year.
“This year, we see this variability in results. When we land the car in the way that suits him, he’s absolutely fine. But when it drops out of that operational window, he struggles and he struggles more than maybe Kimi. And that is on us.
“We just have to work it out with him how there can be such a difference in driving, in performance, because George is not half a second slower, three tenths slower than Kimi. That’s just absolutely not the case.
“So what is it that he doesn’t like? What is it that we need to do in terms of modifying the car, setting it up in a different way for him to go fast? Because it’s all about the intelligence, the ability, the determination.”
Driving style and set-up are genuine reasons for a driver to struggle in certain circumstances.
However, it’s also a case that the absolute elite, the all-time greats – drivers such as Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso – tend to find a way to be at the top of their game regardless of the car’s behaviour.
The worry for Russell right now is that if Antonelli is at that level – and it looks as though he has the potential to be, given his performances in only his second season – he will have his work cut out to beat him consistently in the future.
So he needs to regroup over the winter, come back next year and prove he can get back on to Antonelli’s level.
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