George Russell is eager to contest a Formula 1 title battle against Max Verstappen in 2026 with the Mercedes driver heading into the campaign as the world championship favourite.
F1 will introduce a new set of regulations this year meaning the car is completely new and with such wholesale changes, the pecking order is currently unknown.
But considering how Mercedes dominated the last engine change in 2014 – it won eight, straight titles – and its impressive form in last week’s Barcelona shakedown, Russell is currently favourite for his maiden title this year.
His competition, however, should be fierce, particularly down at Red Bull with four-time world champion Verstappen who is considered by many as F1’s best driver on the current grid – even if Lando Norris clinched the 2025 crown in the dominant McLaren MCL39 – after the Dutch driver missed out on the title by just two points.
Russell therefore anticipates Verstappen to be in the mix, despite question marks over the Dutchman’s chances considering Red Bull will debut its in-house power unit which isn’t expected to be as strong as the Mercedes engine.
So when the prospect of a title battle was put to Russell at his team’s 2026 launch, the five-time race winner said: “I do want to go head-to-head with Max and obviously, Lando had a great season last year.
George Russell, Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W16, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB21
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
“But no, it didn’t add any more pressure. I think probably the fans and people were expecting potentially Mercedes versus McLaren, because there was a lot of anticipation that Mercedes would clearly have the best power unit.
“But it seems like the other power unit manufacturers have done a good job and we know that Red Bull have always had an amazing car, even through the years of dominance of Mercedes. It was their engine that was letting them down, not their car and we obviously know how good Max is.
“So, yeah, I think he’s very much going to be in the fight this year and that is great. You obviously wish that you’d have a slightly easier time of it, but it should never be easy and if you’re going to win, you want to have fought for it and won it fair and square on track.”
Russell obviously has a lot of history with Verstappen given their famous bust-up at the end of the 2024 seasonx, but the 28-year-old isn’t the Briton’s only focus.
He is wary that F1 could have several teams in the championship fight, particularly those who finished inside the top four in 2025 with Ferrari also showing promise last week; Lewis Hamilton claimed the fastest lap in F1’s Barcelona shakedown.
“The best-case scenario from the sport and also for the drivers is that you’ve got a number of different drivers and a number of different teams all battling it out,” added Russell.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Ferrari
“I think at the moment it does look like Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and ourselves are, let’s say, the four teams that are all quite close within one another.”
Russell did mention another team though that could enter the mix and that’s Aston Martin: it is now a Honda works’ outfit, under the leadership of legendary designer Adrian Newey and boasts two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso.
“You can’t discount what you’ve seen from Aston Martin and what Adrian has done with that car,” said the Mercedes driver of the team which finished seventh in 2025.
“It looks pretty spectacular and Honda over the past few years with Red Bull have had a very good engine beneath them.
“So we also know what they’re capable of; that would be awesome to see a big fight. I remember it was 2010, when you had the McLarens, Fernando and the Red Bulls all fighting, that’s what the sport is about and that’s what we hope it will be about this year.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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