Last Updated on March 30 2026, 11:43 am
After three rounds of the 2026 Formula One season the sport will return to hibernation for five weeks as the war in Iran continues making the Bahrain and Saudi Grand Prix impossible to run. George Russell lost the lead of the championship yesterday in Japan as his young charger of a team mate claimed is second career Grand Prix victory.
The Kimi Antonelli is remarkably the first Italian since Albert Ascari to win back to back F1 Grand Prix and is also the youngest ever to hold the lead in the F1 drivers’ title race. The Mercedes driver was fortunate with timing of the safety car deployed after a horrendous crash for Haas’ Oliver Bearman, meaning Antonelli’s pit stop time loss was just ten seconds, around half of a normal change of tyres in Suzuka.
Yet despite his good luck which saw him take the lead after switching for fresh rubber, prior to the safety car Antonelli was comfortable the quickest driver on track. Whilst he was making moves on Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton, climbing through the field, his team mate George Russell was for lap after lap stuck behind the surprise leader Oscar Piastri in his McLaren.
Russell’s barren years with Mercedes F1
With Mercedes dominating the 2026 F1 season to date, Antonelli has given all neutral fans hope that at least there’ll be a year long battle between him and Russell to decide who becomes the drivers’ champion.
And there are signs George Russell is already rattled he’s not getting it al his own way, even a sense of entitlement at times given he is the senior driver on the team. The British driver was brought into the Mercedes team in 2022, the season after the Brackley based outfit won the constructors’ title race and Hamilton fought for the drivers’ championship to the last lap of the last race.
Yet since then, Mercedes have figuratively speaking not been at the races. Despite beating Hamilton in two of their three seasons together, Russell has not featured in the race for the drivers’ championship, finishing no higher than fourth since joining the team.
With just a teenager on the other side of the garage and a car which will be dominant for at least several more race weekends to come, 2026 was surely the year for George Russell. His time had come and the championship was there for the taking.
Is George becoming something of w ‘whinger’?
Yet as Charles Leclerc in his seventh season for Ferrari will attest, time served is not something F1 rewards particularly well. Despite being one of the best qualifiers of his generation with 26 pole positions to his name, the Monegasque driver has just eight Grand Prix wins and has never had a sniff at the title.
In 2022, Leclerc finished second in the drivers’ championship, but he was a massive 146 points behind Max Verstappen in his Red Bull Racing machine. Formula One is a tough place to be and 2026 is in no way certain to be George Russell’s year.
Another worrying aspect for Russell is he’s unwittingly cultivating the image of a ‘complainer’ or even a ‘winger’ when he feels things are not going his way. Of course most of the drivers in modern F1 observe their rivals indiscretions over team radio, to ensure the stewards look at every possible infraction of the rules.
Yet Russell comes across a little more intent in seeing his rivals punished than some of the others in the field. One example was in Australia when he was duking it out with Charles Leclerc for the lead of the race. As the Ferraro suddenly ran out of electrical power and began harvesting energy, Leclerc slowed suddenly through high speeds turns 11 and 12 just as Russell was hitting his energy boost button.
Russell slams rivals as “mega dangerous”
He described the move by the Ferrari driver as “mega dangerous” over team radio, something he repeated later when he encountered Lewis Hamilton in similar fashion. Of course the incidents were caused by the controversial new F1 rules for this season, yet Russell was dismissive of other drivers who were pointing the finger at the FIA.
George has argued that drivers like Max Verstappen and Lando Norris who have been the most vocal in their criticism of the new F1 racing rules would be saying something quite different were they to be winning. After his victory in Melbourne he told assembled media: “If they had won this weekend, those same people would probably have told a very different story,” Russell declared.
He further bemoaned the fact that other drivers were behaving in a “selfish” manner and had previously failed to complain about issues like “porpoising” which blighted Mercedes in 2022.
George was also critical of Ferrari and their drivers for blocking a new rule change for the start of the races, suggesting the older rule suited Ferrari who resisted the change.
Safety car intervention upsets Russell
As the pressure on the man from Kings Lynn from his team mate continues to build, it appears Russell is not taking it well. His reaction in yesterday’s Grand Prix to his team mate benefitting from the safety car deployment was broadcast across team radio. “Unbelievable. Wow, f***, our luck in these last two races,” which was understandable in the moment, yet Mercedes’ response was telling as the usually inscrutable Toto Wolff surprisingly got involved.
“George, see what you can do from here, yeah. Super unlucky,” came the voice of the boss. Whilst the message sounds as one of encouragement, there’s an element of Wolff instructing his driver to stop complaining and ‘get your head down and race.’
Russell then came on team radio suggesting the Mercedes team enforce how his team mate restart the race after the safety car period as had been rehearsed – although it was framed as a question. Given Russell lost a place at the restart to Hamilton, Antonelli did in fact do something different which caught George out.
In his now infamous post Grand Prix review on Sky F1, Ted Kravitz speaking to camera said in his ‘notebook’ feature: “Listen, I feel for George, I really do, but I think some of these tetchy comments or complaints are not going down well in the Mercedes garage,” revealed the veteran pit lane reporter. With his ear to the ground in the paddock, something said by a Mercedes employee must have promoted this remark.
Is Russell losing the Mercedes garage to Kimi?
It may be that the challenge from Kimi Antonelli implodes and that Russell romps to a maiden F1 championship. Then again, having secured back to back wins it may prove a springboard for Antonelli to dominate his senior team mate.
However, following Kravitz’s comments, there are serious questions over whether George Russell is losing the Mercedes garage. This happened to Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari when along came the young upstart that was Charles Leclerc and within a season the quadruple F1 champion was on his way out of Maranello.
By way of contrast to Russell’s prickly demeanour at times, his team mate Kimi Antonelli appears carefree and joyous. After his maiden win in China, he was described by Toto Wolff as a ‘leader’ in the team. “It comes naturally to him. Similar to the talent he has in the car, he has always been able to catalyse the environment and people. He is affectionate, which is a bit of a typical Italian trait, but he is very affectionate.”
Its a long wait now until the Miami Grand Prix next up, but its crucial for Russell to re-establish his pre-eminence there. Yet like Japan where he’s never gone particularly well, Russell’s best outing outside the Dolphins stadium was in 2025 when he finished third.
NEXT ARTICLE: Updated: F1 set for major rules U-turn as FIA admits 2026 mistake after crash fears
Last Updated on March 30 2026, 11:16 am
Formula 1 backtracks: 2026 regulations under pressure – Although Formula 1 is still in the early stages of its new era, the 2026 regulations are already causing significant concerns behind the scenes.
The cutting-edge hybrid technology, sustainable power units and closer racing that were once presented as the future of the sport are now being quietly reconsidered. And, according to the latest rumours in the paddock, the FIA is preparing to backtrack significantly.
Following weeks of mounting criticism from drivers and teams, there is now growing internal acceptance that the controversial 50/50 power split between internal combustion and electrical energy may have been a mistake…. CONTINUE READING
A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13 and a career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media. Having trained in investigative journalism and contributed to several European sports outlets, Hunt brings rigour and polish to every article. His role is to sharpen analysis, check facts and ensure TJ13’s daily output meets the highest editorial standards.
