Mercedes’ George Russell started P7 and finished P4 in the F1 2026 São Paulo GP. The Brit had a good start and moved up into the podium positions, but had a spin on pit exit and later lost pace on the inters.
Russell had set the second fastest time on Saturday’s Qualifying. However, he received a five-place grid penalty after Mercedes introduced a sixth ICE for the São Paulo GP.
As the lights went out, George Russell climbed to P5, just behind Hadjar. By Lap 7, both the Mercedes and the Red Bull had gotten ahead of Lawson, and the Brit managed to overtake the Frenchman for P3 out of Turn 12 three tours later.
Yet, things turned downward for the Brit as he spun on the pit exit and consequently lost multiple positions to Verstappen, Hadjar, Piastri, Lawson and Hülkenberg. Russell boxed on Lap 17 to switch out his intermediate tyres for fresh softs. Just as he turned left on the damp pit exit, he dropped it.
From there, both Mercedes seemed to face issues as they lost pace and had a hard time keeping up with the front runners initially. As the soft stint went on, though, the Brit was flying, setting multiple fastest laps. Russell made it to the rain on one set of softs before switching to inters.
On lap 64, as Russell closed in on Antonelli, the pair was instructed to swap positions. By the end of the race, Russell crossed the line in P4, behind Norris, Verstappen and Hadjar.
Russell on a good start and pit stop drama
“Yeah, not really too sure what happened”, said George Russell after the F1 2026 São Paulo GP about his spin.
The Brit tried to explain his pit exit incident further.
“I went at quite a high risk because I smelt an opportunity and paid the price. It’s in those moments where you either gain a lot or you lose a lot. This time it went against us.
“Ironically, because of that I didn’t pit and kind of brought myself back into the race.
“Though I showed really strong pace on the soft. I’d say on the soft tyre we had the fastest race pace,” Russell highlighted. “It’s been quite a while since I’ve had the fastest race pace so I would take the positives of that.
Going back to the inters at the perfect moment
On Lap 62, as rain got heavier, Mercedes were the first front runners to pit for intermediates with Russell. The strategy worked as he was far closer to Antonelli and Hadjar who boxed a tour later.
“Yeah, huge benefit,” agreed Russell. “The team did a great job there and I think it just highlights the challenges of this sport. Yesterday we got it wrong, today they called it perfectly and other drivers got it wrong.”
He referenced Saturday’s disagreement with his team, as he was instructed to give up his fast lap and potentially missed out on pole.
“That’s just how it goes and it’s always highlighted more when it goes wrong than when it goes right.”
Mercedes’ final stint struggles at F1 2026 São Paulo GP
When asked about what had happened in the final stint as he complained about a strange feeling with his W17, Russell was not sure. Isack Hadjar drove off from both the Brit and the Italian in the final few laps.
“We don’t know. We really don’t know. I was quite excited when the rain was coming but then Kimi and I had absolutely no pace. So we need to understand why that was.
“Maybe a small theory could be we were the first ones on to be on inters,” tried the Brit. “Even just on that out lap on the driest track, you damage the tyres and the temps go up, and you’re in this negative spiral.” Russell concluded: “As of now, that’s the only explanation.”
Still, it was a positive weekend for the team, as Mercedes were crowned the 2026 Constructors’ World Champions. Russell is still fighting for P2 in the Drivers’ Championship. As it stands, he is P3 with 262 points, behind Verstappen with 279 and ahead of Hamilton with 261.
