George Russell uses 'Mona Lisa' to explain Mercedes F1 struggles

George Russell looks across at the Mona Lisa — Photo: © IMAGO

Mercedes

George Russell uses 'Mona Lisa' to explain Mercedes F1 struggles

Mercedes have struggled with reliability issues in 2026 so far

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 17 July 2026 19:42

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George Russell has compared his 2026 struggles with an amateur artist trying to copy Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa painting.

Russell has been regularly outperformed by his team-mate Kimi Antonelli this year, winning just two grands prix compared to Antonelli's five, and fell behind in the battle for the drivers' championship.

Reliability problems for Antonelli in two of the last three races has meant that Russell has closed that gap quite significantly back down to 25 points, but at the time of both of Antonelli's failures, the young Italian was running ahead of Russell.

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He is now hoping to start picking up regular race victories in order to put more pressure on Antonelli, as both drivers fight for their first world championship victory.

But Russell has now suggested that some of his struggles this year have been down to having to completely change his driving style for the new cars that came into the sport at the beginning of the season.

He has said that practice will eventually make perfect, but that he is currently learning new processes.

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Russell still learning how to drive 2026 cars

At each of the top two teams, the form of the two drivers has changed around completely in 2026. Russell finished 169 points ahead of Antonelli in 2026, but is 25 points behind after nine races of 2026. Lewis Hamilton finished 86 points behind Charles Leclerc at Ferrari in 2025, but is now flying 39 points ahead of the struggling Leclerc in 2026, in the hunt alongside the two Mercedes drivers for the title.

"It's like if somebody asked you to draw the Mona Lisa and you've got the Mona Lisa next to you, do you think you could achieve it straight away?," Russell told Autosport. "Maybe with practice, you will.

"And with these new power units, with these new tyres, with these new cars, I'm having to set the car up in a way that has not been suited to my driving. I'm having to drive in a way that I haven't driven in my whole career. And I'm having to adapt to this.

"I know exactly what I need to do. But going out and then achieving it, when I've driven for 20 years in a certain way, and even more so, it's been working for 20 years, and now suddenly it's working 50 per cent of the time, but 50 per cent of the other time it's not working. Trying to recognise, OK, is it going to work this weekend my normal way? Or do I need to adapt my approach? If I need to adapt my approach, how do I do that? And how do I do it and be quick?

"Because when I've performed at my very best, I've just been performing subconsciously, not even been thinking about driving. And now you're having to think, trying to make these new techniques become subconscious techniques. And that is the challenge.

"Everyone here is at the top of their game, and it goes back to this conversation with [Charles] Leclerc, and also some of the challenges he's having. It doesn't make a lot of sense - one day we're so competitive, and the next day we're not."

F1 Mercedes George Russell Belgian Grand Prix