Mercedes F1 2026 Preview: George Russell ready to fill Lewis Hamilton void

Photo: © IMAGO

F1 2026 Preview

Mercedes F1 2026 Preview: George Russell ready to fill Lewis Hamilton void

Mercedes enter the new F1 season as one of the favourites

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Wednesday 4 March 2026 12:56

Since their domination of Formula 1 came to a crushing end in 2021 after Max Verstappen swiped the drivers’ world championship from Lewis Hamilton, it’s all been a bit… meh at Mercedes.

The 2022 rules revamp did nothing for them. The zeropod approach to sidepods on the car looked like a masterstroke ‘that could lock in an advantage for years’ but instead created more problems and allowed Red Bull and then McLaren last year to sweep up all the glory for the next four seasons.

Hamilton and Russell have collected race wins during this time, proving at least they could still run at the front, but a championship challenge has been too long in the waiting now and in another brand new era of regulations, there is no excuse for them not to be battling for championships again.

Article continues under video

Who are Mercedes’ F1 drivers?

George Russell will once again be running alongside Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes in their second season as team-mates. Russell has actually been at the team since 2022 after replacing Valtteri Bottas and then beating Hamilton in two of the three seasons they were together, picking up five wins and 23 podiums to date along the way.

Antonelli is in just his second season at F1 and after a mixed first year that saw him struggle during the European races, a revival in the latter stages of the season has given the 19-year-old confidence to enter 2026 with hopes he can improve further this year.

George Russell won two F1 races during the 2025 season

Where did Mercedes finish in 2025?

George Russell claimed wins in Canada and Singapore to help him bag fourth in the championship, albeit quite a way back from title contending trio Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri. Kimi Antonelli’s mid-season crisis of form saw him finish only seventh on 150 points - 169 points down on Russell. However there were still podiums in Canada, Brazil and Las Vegas to celebrate.

Mercedes were runners-up in the constructors' after keeping Verstappen and Red Bull at bay for the second half of the season but their total of 469 points was still a massive 364 down on McLaren.

Who is Mercedes’ team principal?

Toto Wolff has been head of the team since 2013 making him the longest serving team principal on the grid. On top of that he is a managing partner and CEO of the team with a 30 per cent stake ownership so he has a pretty secure seat in the team.

That’s no bad thing in this case because Wolff has a proven track record of being an excellent operator, and was key to helping Mercedes win every championship between 2014 and 2020. Many would argue that he is the best team principal on the grid. If you know about his toilet cleaning anecdote too, you’ll know he isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty either.

Bending the rules

Throughout the course of last season and over the winter, the whispers are Mercedes have nailed the new engine regulations. Some were even suggesting a 2014 style dominance would open up.

Pre-season testing so far has not quite suggested dominance but that Mercedes have built a decent engine. But as always in F1, especially with a new set of rules, a row has broken out over the legality of the Mercedes engines.

It’s to do with the compression ratio element of it, and if you wish to read more you can do so here, but to cut a long story short, rival teams are not happy and have protested Mercedes’ design in that they have exploited a rule that allowed them to increase its ratio compression (thus performance) at higher temperatures while the car was running.

The fallout is that from June 1, the compression ratio will be controlled in both hot and cold temperatures before only in operating conditions (130 degrees Celsius) from 2027.

This means Mercedes will have seven races to comply before the Monaco Grand Prix, although the team are satisfied they can meet this new threshold without loss of performance.

The biggest reason to hope

Mercedes have been one of the slickest teams in F1 for many years now and excellence oozes out of every pore. That comes from the top and the understandable high standards demanded by Wolff in all areas of the business. In many ways he is the new Ron Dennis.

It’s that platform that will always give the team's drivers a fighting chance, and luckily for them they have two talented ones in Russell, who is a proven race winner, and Antonelli, who has lots of potential.

It’s a superbly balanced team who will be giving the likes of McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull headaches all season long.

George Russell will be hoping to fill the boots of Lewis Hamilton

The biggest reason to worry

If this is to be the year that Mercedes once again have a car good enough for the world championship, do their drivers have the ability to convert that into success? Now Russell and Antonelli are already proven to be speedy drivers but pressure does strange things to people.

Antonelli for instance was all over the place once results started going against him last season, and while he recovered, that poor run of form would have cost him a world championship. Also he is just 19, not a criticism at all but a fact that at that age, a title fight is a huge responsibility to take on. There is a reason why F1’s youngest world champion was over 23 years old (Sebastian Vettel in 2010). The Italian is still on his exponential development cycle.

That brings us to Russell, who so far has soaked up every bit of pressure thrown at him - and that includes fending off a menacing Hamilton in Brazil in 2022 to win his first ever grand prix.

But the pressure of a championship does strange things to people. Despite winning the title Lando Norris had a poor season by his standards that was littered with mistakes. Oscar Piastri blew a huge mid-season lead, only recovering once he was no longer favourite for the title. Nico Rosberg retired after winning the 2016 championship due to the mental stress the previous year took on him.

Russell and Antonelli could be heading to an unknown they are just not prepared for.

Mercedes prediction

George Russell has done a great job of stepping up as team leader since the departure of Hamilton last season but there is only one way he can truly replace the seven-time world champion and that’s by winning one himself.

The British star has the speed and mentality to face a championship fight and if Mercedes is quick expect him to lead the team’s charge with the ever-improving Antonelli not far behind. There’s a reason he is favourite with the bookies - it’s now his time to prove it.

Latest F1 odds for 2026

George Russell to win the drivers’ championship:9/4 (fav) Kimi Antonelli to win the drivers’ championship: 8/1 Mercedes to win the constructors’ championship: 6/5 (fav)

Mercedes fun fact

Mercedes have designed the only closed-wheel car to win a Formula 1 race. The famous W196 used a full bodywork car on faster tracks that although added weight significantly reduced drag to create greater speed. It triumphed three times at the 1954 French Grand Prix as well as the Italian Grand Prix in 1954 and 1955.

The 'type Monza' bodywork along with the more conventional open wheel version of the W196 would help F1 legend Juan Manuel Fangio win the world championship in 1954 and 1955, as well as British racing great Stirling Moss his first win at the 1955 British Grand Prix.

Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

View full biography

F1 Mercedes George Russell Toto Wolff Kimi Antonelli