George Russell says he feels all of Mercedes’ early-season problems are with him in the garage, rather than team-mate Kimi Antonelli.
Russell won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, but Antonelli fought back with wins in China and Japan to build a nine-point lead going into the five-week break before the Miami Grand Prix.
The Briton, who started the season as the clear title contender given Mercedes’ strength and significant experience advantage over his teenage teammate, faces problems in both China and Japan.
He suffered technical problems in Shanghai qualifying and was put on the back foot in Japan after a set-up change went awry, but in the race Antonelli was able to jump over the safety car timing, much to Russell’s frustration.
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2026 Japanese Grand Prix Highlights
After Sunday’s race at Suzuka, Russell told Sky Sports: “I don’t feel very lucky. This is racing. Throughout the year there are times when it’s in your favor and times when it’s against you.”
“It’s frustrating to miss out on the podium because I wasn’t able to charge the battery on the safety car restart and Lewis (Hamilton) passed me. Then there was another issue with Charles (Leclerc)’s battery.
“These cars are still very complex and still in their infancy, so you have to make these mistakes in order to learn.
“But I feel like all the problems are coming at me at the moment, so it’s pretty frustrating to be honest.”
Russell was in command at the Australia and Shanghai Sprint events, but in China Antonelli took pole position after a technical issue limited Russell to one rush-push lap at the end of Q3.
Antonelli was able to take his first race victory with a pole-to-win, and appeared to be buoyed by his results, outscoring Russell in two of the three practice sessions in Japan.
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Russell suffers problems with Mercedes and stops at start of Q3 at Chinese Grand Prix
After these sessions, Russell made some set-up changes to his car ahead of qualifying, but this backfired and he struggled with the feel of the W17, narrowly finishing second ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
With both Mercedes drivers getting off to another bad start to the race, Russell was in a good position for his only pit stop, chasing Piastri in the lead, but Antonelli benefited from an extended first stint as he made an easy stop due to the safety car and took the lead.
Russell’s frustration with the timing of the safety car was compounded by a problem on the safety car restart that put him behind Hamilton, and shortly afterwards another power problem that left him behind Leclerc’s other Ferrari.
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Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli wins Japanese Grand Prix, makes it back-to-back wins and becomes the youngest person to lead an F1 title race
Antonelli took the win strongly, but Russell overtook Leclerc in the closing stages and missed out on the podium, finishing in 4th place.
Asked if he felt he had lost his “usual pace” in Japan, Russell said: “I don’t think so.”
“And like I said, if we had a one-lap difference, we would have won the race and we would have had a positive conversation. So I don’t know what more to say.”
F1 will resume with the second sprint weekend of the season, the Miami Grand Prix, from May 1-3, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – cancel anytime with no contract
