George Russell says he will go into Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix “handcuffed” by a botched set-up change that ruined his qualifying performance.
The world championship leader will start second on the grid at Suzuka after finishing nearly three tenths behind Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli on Saturday.
The Mercedes duo had been close all weekend, but there was a rift throughout qualifying due to changes made to the rear of Russell’s car after Saturday’s final practice.
Russell told Sky Sports F1: “I adjusted the rear of the car before qualifying, but it was small and it was supposed to be clear. Then when I went out it was so bad that it felt like something was breaking in the rear.”
“It didn’t improve. I just had to make a lot of adjustments to my driving style. I had to remove a lot of the front wing to compensate, because I almost spun going into the corner. I couldn’t go around the last corner and I almost spun out of the corner.”
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Highlights of the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix qualifying.
“It’s really annoying. I don’t know what happened.”
With only the third race of the season underway, Russell highlighted the challenges the team faces in adapting to the 2026 car, which has both a new power unit and chassis.
“The reason for the change was to balance the car. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but it was just a small change. That’s what we’ve always done in the past,” he added.
“Either it’s having a much bigger impact than we think because we’re still new to this car, or we did something wrong, something broke. And unfortunately, we’re a little bit handcuffed right now.”
Russell was able to secure a front-row spot only because Mercedes had a huge early-season advantage over their rivals, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri just half a second behind in third place.
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George Russell suffered a technical problem during qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix.
After winning the season opener in Australia, Russell suffered a technical problem in Shanghai qualifying and finished second to Antonelli in China, but the Italian took his first F1 win and cut his championship lead over his teammate to just four points.
Russell added: “This was the second weekend in a row… We were obviously fast throughout in China, just unlucky in Q3. It was weird here.”
Wolff: Russell is at a disadvantage in the race.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted after the session that he expected set-up to continue to be an issue for Russell during Sunday’s race.
Wolff told Sky Sports F1: “We did some fine-tuning of the set-up on the other side (Russell’s side).
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted Russell was at a disadvantage.
“There was expected to be less impact than we expected, but it caused the car to lean towards the nose and there was too much oversteer, which made it very difficult for him.”
When asked if this setup could help Russell in the race, Wolff replied: “Probably the opposite.
“He has to take this into the race now and it’s certainly a disadvantage, but these things happen.”
Antonelli wary of Russell threat
Despite Russell’s situation, Antonelli believes his teammate will be the biggest challenger to victory on Sunday.
Asked what would prevent him from winning, Antonelli told Sky Sports F1: “My teammates, myself! I’m not going to worry too much about that.
“I’m going to focus on what I need to do, follow the steps correctly and try to get off to a good start without overdoing it.
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Watch Kimi Antonelli take pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix!
“Hopefully, if I can stay first until Turn 1, I can make the most of the free air and set the pace.
“Obviously I will work with Bono (Peter Bonnington) and the other engineers to do what we need to do and be as ready as possible for tomorrow.”
Suzuka has traditionally given drivers limited overtaking opportunities, but Antonelli hopes the new 2026 car will further increase the possibility of position changes.
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Kimi Antonelli won the Chinese Grand Prix, marking his debut win with Mercedes, and Lewis Hamilton took his first podium with Ferrari.
He said: “We’ve obviously seen how easy it is to follow and we don’t know how much more battery you can harvest and deploy on the straight when you put it in overtaking mode and whether that makes for a good race.
“Still, I don’t think it will be as easy as it was in China or Melbourne, because first of all the track is quite tight and there aren’t as many straights where you can overtake or where you can move forward and big braking afterwards.
“It won’t be easy because we have a lot of fast entries, but that’s why it’s important to get a good start and we’ll see how the pace goes from there.”
Sky Sports F1 Japan GP Schedule
Sunday, March 29th
4:30am: Preparations for the Japanese Grand Prix – Grand Prix Sunday*
6am: Japanese Grand Prix*
8am: Japanese GP reaction – checkered flag*
9am: Ted’s Notes*
*The main event will also be broadcast live on Sky Sports
This weekend, F1 will host the Japanese Grand Prix at the iconic Suzuka Circuit, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – cancel anytime with no contract
