- Russell dismisses Antonelli’s momentum, pointing to break as a full reset.
- Bad luck cost Russell in China & Japan,with gearbox failures & safety cars.
- Miami becomes a new starting line, with Mercedes drivers expecting a genuine fight.
George Russell is nine points behind his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli in the 2026 Formula 1 drivers’ championship. Three races in, the 19-year-old Italian has won two of them. By any conventional reading, the momentum belongs to Antonelli.
Russell, however, does not accept the conventional reading.
Speaking after the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka on March 29, the Briton pointed to the one thing he believes wipes the slate clean: a five-week gap in the calendar that leaves the championship in a kind of suspended animation until the Miami Grand Prix on May 1.
“We’re now at a four-week break, so there’s no momentum to be carried,” Russell told Motorsport. “Reset and go again for the next race.”
That is his argument. And when you look at how those three races actually unfolded, it is not a weak one.
A perfect start disrupted by bad luck
Russell opened the year in Australia the way a title favourite is supposed to, winning the season opener and backing it up with victory in the Shanghai sprint. The early signs pointed one way.
Then things began to unravel, and not because Antonelli was doing anything extraordinary.
In China, a gearbox problem in Q3 denied Russell the opportunity to challenge for pole. He had been three-tenths quicker than Antonelli in sprint qualifying before the issue struck.
Antonelli won the race from the front. At Suzuka the following weekend, Russell made what he described as a “massive” front wing adjustment mid-session that cost him on the timesheet and left him chasing the race from a compromised position.
The Japanese Grand Prix was where the championship lead changed hands, and the timing of events was almost cruel in its precision.
Russell pitted early. One lap later, a high-speed crash involving Haas driver Oliver Bearman brought out the safety car. Antonelli, who had not yet stopped, pitted under the caution period and came out in front.
A misfortune that had nothing to do with pace or racecraft handed the Italian the win.
The troubles did not stop there. At the safety car restart, Russell could not recharge his battery. Lewis Hamilton came past him. Then, after a few laps, another battery problem while battling Charles Leclerc robbed Russell of the chance to respond, and Hamilton passed him again.
He fought back to reclaim one position but finished fourth.
Antonelli, meanwhile, became the first Italian driver since the great Alberto Ascari in 1953 to win consecutive races. He also became the first teenager in Formula 1 history to lead the drivers’ championship.
George Russell: ‘No momentum to be carried’
Russell did not come to the post-race media sessions at Suzuka looking for sympathy. He came with a clear assessment of what had happened and, more pointedly, what he thinks it means.
“No, not at all,” he said when asked if he was worried momentum was turning towards his teammate. “It’s three races down in 22 and one lap different today, the victory would have been on my side, and I’m very confident of that,” he said via Motorsport.
He noted that in China, without the qualifying issue, he may well have started on pole and won the race too. His conclusion was measured: “It’s just how it turns out; that’s racing.”
He did not pretend the run of events had been easy to absorb. Speaking to Sky Sports, he admitted:
“It feels like at the moment all the issues are coming on my side, so that is pretty frustrating, to be honest.” He was acknowledging the reality of his situation without dressing it up.
But the frustration and the fear of falling behind are two different things, and Russell is keeping them carefully separate.
His point about the calendar break is at the heart of his thinking. Momentum, in sport, depends on rhythm. It compounds when results come in quick succession. A five-week silence breaks that chain entirely.
Why the break changes everything
The gap in the schedule is not one that was planned. Formula 1 and the FIA confirmed the cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix, set for April 10 to 12, and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, planned for April 17 to 19, citing safety concerns related to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Both Gulf states were struck during Iran’s retaliatory attacks following the United States and Israeli air strikes on Iran. The sport goes dark for the entire month of April.
For Russell, that darkness is useful. Miami, when it arrives, becomes a fresh beginning rather than an extension of anything that came before.
He also pointed to something beyond the calendar as a levelling force. The 2026 cars are new and complex, and early-season consistency is hard to sustain.
“It’s just luck of the draw with these new cars,” Russell said. “But it’s race three of 22. I’m not concerned at all, it’s a long year.”
There is experience behind that composure.
Russell has been in this sport long enough to know that three races rarely define a season. He has lost ground through misfortune, not through any evidence that Antonelli is simply better. That distinction matters to him.
Antonelli stays grounded amid the hype
What makes this championship interesting is that the young Italian at the centre of it is not getting carried away either.
After taking the lead in the standings, Antonelli told ESPN, “I’m not thinking too much about the championship. Of course it’s great, but there’s still a long way to go.”
He acknowledged that experience has shaped him, pointing to the lessons he learned during his first year in the sport. But he also made clear that he knows exactly who he is up against.
“George is very quick,” he said, “and for sure he’s going to be back at his usual level.”
That is a generous thing to say when you are leading. It is also probably accurate.
Russell arrives in Miami with a deficit on the points table and nothing else. The bad luck has been there for everyone to see.
The losses have stung. But he has drawn a clean line under the opening three races and is looking ahead rather than back.
Miami will tell us whether his reading of the situation was right, whether the reset he is counting on is real, and whether a 19-year-old who has never been here before can hold his nerve when a very motivated George Russell comes hunting again.
