George Russell secured victory for Mercedes at the Austrian GP, his first F1 triumph in main Grand Prix since the opening round of the 2026 season in Melbourne, nearly four months ago, and didn’t hide his relief of being at the top again after what he described as “tough months” seeing his team-mate Kimi Antonelli steal a march in the world championship standings.
Russell “proud” to win 2026 F1 Austrian GP as the track “isn’t suited” to his driving style
When asked what is the significance of this win after a rough spell, Russell admitted he is “proud” to have come out on top after the last few months, and more importantly, on a track which be believes doesn’t necessarily suits his driving style, as the rear-limited nature of the Red Bull Ring played more into Kimi Antonelli’s hands:
“It feels like a long time ago, to be honest,” he said of his victory at the opening race of the season. “It’s been a tough couple of months with some really tricky races, with races that felt like everything was going against me, then some races with some tough performances.
“Obviously, I’ve got a really incredible team-mate next to me, who week in, week out is delivering some pretty spectacular performances. So, for me, going into Canada, going into Barcelona from quite a low point, I needed a lot of resilience to be able to get back and deliver some strong performances.
“So to get the last two poles, to get the win here this weekend, especially on a track which I don’t think is so suited to me, I’m really, really proud about.”
Verstappen’s pressure put Mercedes in a “quite uncomfortable” position in the middle stint of the 2026 F1 Austrian GP
Although he secured pole position quite comfortably despite having to lift off due to a single-waved yellow flag for Max Verstappen’s stricken Red Bull car at the end of qualifying, Russell said the race wasn’t quite as straightforward for him, as the relentless pressure from the Dutchman “forced” him to make a second stop on lap 43:
“It didn’t quite feel like that, to be honest,” he said of Mercedes CEO and team principal Toto Wolff labelling his win as ‘cold-blooded’. “It felt [like] a really calm and controlled race.
“I think if we took Max [Verstappen] out of the picture, you’d say it was a really strong performance from Mercedes – 20 seconds ahead of McLaren, more [than that] ahead of Ferrari.
“But with the upgrades on the Red Bull, Max was in the fight for pole yesterday, [and] a really great race pace from him today.
“He pressured me in the middle stint, and forced me to stop with 28 laps remaining, which was quite uncomfortable. But I had a really strong first 20 laps of that stint, which allowed me just to bring it home in the final eight [laps].”
Russell: Pole position was “crucial” in order to secure the win
Russell secured his second consecutive pole position by claiming top spot in qualifying for the 2026 F1 Austrian GP, and he believes that it was “crucial” in order to give him an “easier” time at the front, as the threats from Antonelli and Verstappen were somewhat halted due to their lower starting positions:
“Yeah, for sure, it was crucial. Everything got hooked up. I still think we’d have been in the fight regardless of what happened yesterday, but for sure, starting from pole position, everything is made easier.”
Following the Austrian GP, Russell now trails Mercedes F1 team-mate Antonelli by 40 points in the 2026 F1 drivers’ championship, re-taking the runner-up spot after Lewis Hamilton finished in a lowly fifth in the race.
