Going into the 2026 F1 Mexico City GP, Mercedes’ George Russell sits P2 in the 2026 F1 Constructors’ Championship with 242 points to his name. Despite still being in contention for the 2026 F1 Drivers’ Championship, the Briton currently also finds himself in a four-way fight for P2 with both Ferraris and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Nine points separate Russell from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who sits in P5.
While Russell started the 2026 F1 season leading the early charge for Mercedes and winning the season opener, the Briton has faced a drastic slump in performance for long periods since. As a result, he now has a 123-point deficit to teammate Kimi Antonelli.
Russell enters the 2026 F1 Mexico City GP, looking to redeem himself as he navigates his pace struggles with the Mercedes W17.
Russell aims for consistency in the closing stages of 2026 F1 season
The primary issue that has plagued Russell’s 2026 F1 season has been reliability issues with his Mercedes W17. Nonetheless, the Briton has proved that when his W17 is in the right window, he is able to produce strong performance and extract the most from his Mercedes, as evident from his three race wins this season.
As explained by Russell, the significant reliability issues with his Mercedes are evident from his recent results. At the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP, Russell was able to not only take pole by a massive 0.8s, but he was then able to successfully convert it into a win. However, his last outing at the 2026 F1 United States GP saw him struggling with pace once again and he only finished in P8 at the Circuit of the Americas.
While Russell admitted that neither he nor Mercedes has figured out the consistency issue, he did stress that his goal for the ending stages of the 2026 F1 season would be to “gain some consistency” rather than a winning streak.
“Well, I think it’s definitely important for me to try and gain some consistency. A couple of races ago, we were on pole by eight tenths and won the race. Then, last week, I finished in P8, and I’ve never had a season like this in my career where the performance has fluctuated so much. I know it’s in there because you can’t deliver performances like that in Baku if you’ve so-called lost it. It’s just that we’re struggling to have a high hit rate. We don’t know why that is, and as I said, we’ve never had it. I’ve never had it personally before in my career. I guess that’s probably the priority for me in these last few races.”
When asked about the feeling in his Mercedes that led to his success at the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP, Russell reflected: “If we had the answer, we’d be able to maybe replicate it more often.”
As explained by the eight-time race winner, his Mercedes W17 did have strong race pace and performance, as evident from his many pole positions obtained across the 2026 F1 season.
However, he is still unable to obtain the results he should be clinching with the most dominant car on the grid. The Briton hence revealed that the lack of strong performance from his end has led to Mercedes “scratching our heads a little bit”.
“That’s been part of the challenge this year, some of the confusion. I came out of Monaco earlier this year, and it was a very difficult weekend for me. I went to Barcelona and was quickest in every session and put it on pole. Went to Austria. The next race, I was on pole again. Then, a few races later, I was qualifying down in P5 and P6. Baku, on pole by eight tenths. In Malaysia, I qualified, I don’t know, I think it was P8, maybe. I feel that in the years gone by, I’ve had a pretty high hit rate of reaching the potential of the car.
“Maybe at the end of the season, there were four or five races that I feel were not maximised. I remember 2022, we finished in the top five more than any other driver in the whole season. I think it was 19 from 22 races, and this was the third-best car on the grid. Now this season, we have the best car, and I’m not able to achieve these results. So, yeah, it’s quite strange and certainly has us scratching our heads a little bit. It’s definitely not through a lack of trying.”
How the 2026 cars challenge his driving style
Russell then explained the two main technical hurdles that led to his performance deficit to Antonelli.
The Briton’s own driving style means he carries a lot of speed into and out of corners, like in the first sector in Austin. However, the current 2026 F1 power units rely heavily on energy deployment.
This meant Russell was draining the battery inefficiently, putting him at a disadvantage with less power down the back straight.
“Well, I think there’s just a few factors with the cars this year that potentially favour or hinder a certain driving style. I’ve always been a driver who focuses on the middle to the exit of the corners, which often means I’m on the throttle earlier than most. With these new power units, that means I’m spending more energy, and it’s sometimes not the most efficient way to drive for the power unit.”
His natural driving style also challenged the rear tyres of his Mercedes. In accordance with the 2026 F1 technical regulations, Pirelli raised the minimum rear tyre pressure. His aggressive driving style punishes the rear tyres on the exits, resulting in a significant loss of traction. The combination of both factors meant the 2026 Mercedes F1 chassis strongly contradicted Russell’s natural driving style. Thus, he has spent the majority of the season fighting to adapt his driving style to the chassis.
“Secondly, the tyre pressures this year, especially on the rear, have been very, very high. Pirelli have taken a few PSI margin, especially on the rear axle. Again, that has hindered me a little bit by pushing the exits. The rear tyre can’t cope with it as well, and there’s been a bit of a hindrance on the power unit side. These two factors have really hampered my natural driving style. I’d say that’s probably been the biggest thing this season.”
On tackling the 2027 season
Russell will enter the 2027 F1 season with current teammate Kimi Antonelli. Looking ahead to the next season, the Briton was asked if he was already formulating a strategy to beat his teammate.
However, Russell shared a different mindset as he reflects on his 2026 F1 season with Mercedes. Instead of focusing on outperforming his teammate, the Briton will be looking to outperform himself and correct his own flaws on track.
The 28-year-old also shared an insight into how working with his sports psychologist has allowed him to navigate through disappointment. His main takeaway was to focus on the battle with himself.
“Well, I’ve been working with sports psychologists for seven years now, and these were through my most successful years in Formula 1. Now, of course, this has been the first year of real struggle. But I think, at least in the approach I have, we’re not boxers where you’re in a ring fighting directly against somebody else. We’re kind of fighting against ourselves, almost like a golfer.
“A qualifying lap, you’re there by yourself, and it’s the work and preparation that you’ve done yourself that makes the difference between a good performance and a bad one. So, I’m not directly looking at my number one competitor, saying, ‘How am I going to beat this guy?’ I’m more looking at myself in the mirror, thinking, ‘What do I need to do to not have these poor performances? What were the feelings I had from myself and the car during the great performances, so I can replicate that more often?’ “
Russell reflects on what he’s learned from the 2026 F1 season
Reflecting on his 2026 F1 season with Mercedes thus far, Russell admitted that it had been a season of self-reflection. He also took inspiration from the veterans of the grid such as Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, reflecting that he was still relatively early in his career and hence he was not going to let the 2026 F1 season define his career.
He added that one positive he takes away from the 2026 F1 season was his own resilience as he continues to work with Mercedes after each weekend.
“I mean, I’ve probably learned more about myself this year than I would have liked, in all honesty. The highs and lows you go through in sport are immense, and that’s because we all care so much about what we’re doing. But I remind myself I’m 28 years old. I see Lewis still competing extremely well at 41 and Fernando at 44. Lewis won the majority of his titles in his 30s, and this year is absolutely not going to define my career as a whole. It’s not going to break me. If anything, it’s going to make me stronger.
“I’ve been pretty proud of my resilience and how I’ve bounced back from very tough moments. Through my lowest points of this season, I’ve generally bounced back really, really strong. Then I had another bad race after the good one. So maybe it’s something I need to analyse as well, because I always perform best after my worst races, which is maybe just a coincidence. Maybe there’s something in it. But I’ve been racing more years of my life than I haven’t, and I’ve had more successful years than relative failures.
“I don’t think any athlete, no matter how great, has every single year of their career performing at their highest level. Unfortunately, this year for me has come at maybe the time when I needed it most, but it’s by no means the end of my journey. I’ve still got a good 12 to 15 years left in me.”
