George Russell arrived in the 2026 Formula 1 season with the clearest opportunity of his career. After years spent waiting for Mercedes to return to the front, the Briton opened the campaign by taking pole and victory in Australia, immediately looking like the driver most likely to capitalise on the team’s early advantage.
But Formula 1 title fights rarely stay simple for long. Since Melbourne, momentum has swung sharply towards Kimi Antonelli, whose wins in China and Japan have left Russell chasing his teammate heading into the Miami Grand Prix.
That shift has placed Russell under growing scrutiny. He won the Sprint in Shanghai, but a technical issue in qualifying compromised his weekend before a poor race start left him trailing Antonelli to the flag. In Japan, another difficult race, this time involving a power unit issue, left him fourth while Antonelli claimed another victory.
With the championship still early, Damon Hill believes Russell must resist the temptation to overreact. Speaking exclusively to Total-Motorsport.com, the 1996 world champion said the key is for Russell to keep trusting the level of performance he is producing, even when circumstance does not fall his way.
“I think he’s been a little bit unlucky, George,” said Hill exclusively to Total-Motorsport.com. “I think he’s been caught out a few times, but it’s about, as I said, about winning world championship it plays with your mind.
“So you have to have faith that what you’re doing is the right thing, and during over a long period of the season, there’s going to be an ebb and flow, there’s gonna be times when you’re on the wrong side of the [benefactor] of good luck, and sometimes you’re on the positive side.
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“That is out of your hands; there’s not so much you can do about that. All you have to do is keep putting in the performances, and it’ll average itself out by the end of the season.”
That message feels particularly relevant before Miami, where Russell needs a clean weekend to slow Antonelli’s momentum. The Italian has rapidly become the story of the season, but Russell still has the experience and racecraft to keep the fight alive across a long calendar.
Hill’s point is that championship pressure is not only about speed. It is about not letting one run of difficult weekends distort the bigger picture. A driver can do most things right and still find himself on the wrong side of reliability, safety cars or race timing. Over a full season, the challenge is to keep delivering when the rewards are not immediate.
For Russell, that means treating the early gap to Antonelli as something to manage rather than something to panic over. With 19 races still to go, the title picture remains far from settled.
Too early to judge “very talented” Antonelli
The other side of the Mercedes battle is Antonelli, who has moved from promising prodigy to championship leader in only his second Formula 1 season. His breakthrough began taking shape at last year’s Miami GP, where he stunned the paddock by taking Sprint pole in only his sixth race weekend.
Since then, the 19-year-old has grown quickly, and his victories in Shanghai and Suzuka have confirmed that Mercedes have more than just a future star on their hands. They have a driver already capable of shaping the title fight.
Still, Hill believes caution is needed before placing Antonelli alongside the defining names of the sport.
“He’s clearly very talented,” said Hill. “I think you have to have at least five seasons before you can judge what kind of driver they are, whether they are epoch-defining or not.
“You know, you’d have to say Lewis, Max, Seb, you know, those people define their little era. Senna and Porst, and so forth, you know, and actually, you need time to be able to say the record is of the standard that is visible.”
That may be the fairest assessment of Antonelli’s rise. His speed is obvious, his confidence is growing, and his results are already significant. But greatness in Formula 1 is measured over seasons, not snapshots.
For Russell, the immediate priority is much simpler. Keep putting in the performances, trust that the luck will turn, and make sure Antonelli has to fight for every point of this championship.
