Russell reveals why the W17 favors Antonelli: "It's his style"
George Russell has offered a technical and sincere explanation about the reason why Kimi Antonelli is dominating the 2026 season at Mercedes, in an exclusive interview with Car and Driver, the British driver admitted that the W17 adapts better to his teammate's driving style, a reality that has forced him to rethink his own technique after two decades of driving the same way.
"I'm a driver who is normally very aggressive with the rear tires and this season they aren't as good as in previous years, that means Kimi's driving style is a bit more adapted to this car and I have to adjust my way to be a bit kinder to the rear wheels and a bit more aggressive with the front ones" Russell explained.
The Briton acknowledged the difficulty of this process: "When you've been driving in a certain way for 20 years and suddenly something like that changes, it's a bit difficult to adjust".
The gap between both drivers has widened to 88 points in the last races, a distance that reflects not only the young Italian's talent but also his ability to extract the maximum performance from a car that seems designed to his measure. Antonelli, 20 years old, already has eight victories in his personal tally and leads the championship with authority, while Russell, at 28, faces the most complex challenge of his career at Mercedes.
Despite the disadvantage, Russell maintains a positive and focused attitude: "My goal is to try to win every race and see what happens afterwards. I think I've reached a point of realization where my teammate is performing better than me, I need to focus on improving. There's no point in being angry or frustrated about this, it's very simple" declared the Briton, showing a maturity that contrasts with the frustration that could be expected in a similar situation.
Russell also highlighted the moments in which he has felt satisfied with his performance, even without achieving victory. "I've been very happy with my performance at Zandvoort, I was happy with my performance at Monza, even though I didn't win. I think I could have gone either way in this race, that's all I can do, keep trying to improve" he added.
Russell's trajectory at Mercedes has been a roller coaster, he arrived at the team in 2022 after three years at Williams and in his first seasons he managed to beat Lewis Hamilton in two of the three campaigns they shared. His talent and his ability to adapt made him the natural leader of the team after the departure of the seven-time champion, however the irruption of Antonelli and the regulatory change of 2026 have completely altered the internal dynamics.
The Briton knows that the W17 is not made for him but far from giving up, he has decided to use this situation as an opportunity for learning, his immediate goal is to recover competitiveness and if possible, snatch a victory from his teammate in the remaining races. The season still has many pages to write and Russell is determined to be a protagonist in them, his ability to adapt to a car that does not favor his style will be the key to determining whether he can reverse the situation or if on the contrary, he will have to settle for the role of second driver that some already assign to him.
