‘Like being asked to draw the Mona Lisa’ – Russell explains how he is struggling to match Antonelli

Arguably not everyone can paint – and even if you happen to be a talented painter, could you imagine reproducing the most famous work of art in the world to the most meticulous level of detail?

That’s the challenge George Russell feels he has been facing in the 2026 Formula 1 season.

When Mercedes emerged as the favourite amid F1’s new ruleset, so did Russell, who had overwhelmingly outperformed rookie team-mate Kimi Antonelli last year.

But as the Italian made substantial progress in terms of performance – and his overall package as a driver – Russell sometimes struggled with the new machinery. That’s to the extent Antonelli is the one leading the drivers’ standings, having won five grands prix in a row – something only world champions have ever achieved.

Of course, there has been a layer of misfortune for Russell on Sundays, especially as he retired from the lead with an electrical failure in Montreal and came off worse from the pitlane-speeding penalty drama in Monaco.

But the fact is Antonelli has been the quicker driver in qualifying – albeit not by much. The 19-year-old leads his elder 7-6, with the average gap between them just 0.084s in the final segment of those sessions.

But the gap isn’t representative of the reality, as most of the time one Mercedes driver is three to four tenths faster than the other – and, more often than not, that’s Antonelli.

Following a British Grand Prix where he again struggled relative to his team-mate, Russell had been clear that he had “things to improve upon” on his side, and when Autosport asked him to elaborate on this, he said matter-of-factly: “Just going faster, to be honest, it’s as simple as that.

“The good thing is I’ve not left a single weekend – tough weekend – confused where the pace is. It’s been so clear on the data. Sometimes it’s been so obvious that Shov, our chief engineer [Andrew Shovlin], almost called it like a car problem – it’s so clear on the data and it can be solved.

“Whereas I’ve seen in the past from other drivers or previous team-mates, where if you’re off the pace, it’s like scratching your head to understand why. I know exactly why if I don’t win or if I’m not on pole, it’s clear on the data why that is and what I need to do to improve that. And when I am on pole, it’s clear why that is.

“So it’s not a case of I’ve suddenly forgotten how to drive one day and I remember the next. It’s just not getting the car in that sweet spot. Last year, I felt I had a very high hit rate of how often I could get the full potential from the car, the set-up, the tyres with my engineers. This year, that hit rate is far lower. And that’s what I’m working on to make it more consistent.”

Russell’s struggles to find the sweet spot are partly related to the fact that, according to him, this is the first time in his career that he has had to deviate from his ideal driving style. F1’s new machinery is different from last year’s in every way – smaller, nimbler, with energy management now preponderant.

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Eric Le Galliot

As a consequence, instead of driving instinctively, he now has to think about it and sometimes emulate what his team-mate is doing when the latter is faster – that’s a tall order.

“It’s like if somebody asked you to draw the Mona Lisa and you’ve got the Mona Lisa next to you, do you think you could achieve it straight away?” Russell rhetorically asked. “Maybe with practice, you will.

“And with these new power units, with these new tyres, with these new cars, I’m having to set the car up in a way that has not been suited to my driving. I’m having to drive in a way that I haven’t driven in my whole career. And I’m having to adapt to this.

“I know exactly what I need to do. But going out and then achieving it, when I’ve driven for 20 years in a certain way, and even more so, it’s been working for 20 years, and now suddenly it’s working 50% of the time, but 50% of the other time it’s not working. Trying to recognise, OK, is it going to work this weekend my normal way? Or do I need to adapt my approach? If I need to adapt my approach, how do I do that? And how do I do it and be quick?

“Because when I’ve performed at my very best, I’ve just been performing subconsciously, not even been thinking about driving. And now you’re having to think, trying to make these new techniques become subconscious techniques. And that is the challenge.

“Everyone here is at the top of their game, and it goes back to this conversation with [Charles] Leclerc, and also some of the challenges he’s having. It doesn’t make a lot of sense – one day we’re so competitive, and the next day we’re not.”

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– The Autosport.com Team