George Russell faces second rival in 2026 title fight

Russell screwing up his face on the F1 grid at Miami in bright purple race suit — Photo: © IMAGO

Mercedes

George Russell faces second rival in 2026 title fight

It's George Russell vs Kimi Antonelli for the title

Originally written by Sam Cook. This version is a translation.

Tuesday 12 May 2026 19:00

George Russell isn't just fighting against Kimi Antonelli in the 2026 title fight but also another member of the Mercedes team.

In four rounds, Mercedes have claimed every single grand prix victory, they lead the constructors' championship by 70 points, and have major upgrades on the way for the Canadian Grand Prix.

The development race between now and the end of the season will be fascinating, but there's no doubt that Mercedes right now are on top of everything.

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But George Russell will be sat at home in Monaco desperate to go racing again, after being completely outperformed by his 19-year-old team-mate at last weekend's Miami Grand Prix.

In fact, Kimi Antonelli has claimed the last three grand prix victories, and the last three pole positions, and now holds a comfortable 20-point lead over Russell in the fight for the drivers' championship.

While both Russell and Toto Wolff explained the Miami disaster away as just not being a track that favours the Brit, Russell will be desperately seeking answers as he heads to one of his favourite tracks later this month for the Canadian Grand Prix. And Sky Sports F1's David Croft has said that the race around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve can't come soon enough for Russell.

"I would want Montreal to come next weekend if I was George Russell," Croft told the F1 Show. "I wouldn't want to be waiting a couple of weeks dwelling on what happened in Miami and thinking about how big Canada is now becoming.

"He won there last year. It's a track he's really strong at. I mean, Kimi finished on the podium; it was a very good weekend for Mercedes last year. But if George doesn't beat Kimi with Mercedes upgrades that are coming, and worth quite a bit from what we're led to believe, on a track that he regards as one of his best, and Toto Wolff says is one of his best, then the alarm bells really start to ring for me.

"There's still a long way to go in the season, but this is a massive weekend for George Russell. He needs that commanding performance, but Kimi's on a roll. And I also think, I'm going to go back to Bono [Peter Bonnington], George is not just racing against Kimi. He's racing against what I think is a very good new partnership.

"Karun [Chandhok], you were listening at race control to Bono coaching Kimi lap-by-lap. We heard snippets on the world feed of it. The reassurance that comes from the pit wall, the guidance that comes from the pit wall. He's got an excellent comfort blanket, safety net, coach, advisor, guru, whatever you want to call it, in his corner.

"Bono has been there with championship-winning seasons and knows how to take the pressure of it. He is the perfect man for Kimi Antonelli and this new partnership. It's not just George against Kimi, it's George against a partnership there, and that's going to take some cracking."

Russell's Canadian GP record

The good news for Russell as he starts to try and close the gap to his team-mate in the standings, is that the Canadian GP is statistically very kind to him.

Russell won the race last year, while in 2024 he claimed a podium alongside Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.

In fact, he has achieved top-four finishes in three of his last four visits to Montreal.

There is less data to go off for Antonelli considering this is only his second season in F1, but the young Italian's first career podium came at the Canadian GP last year, when he joined Russell on the podium having finished third.

F1 Mercedes George Russell Kimi Antonelli