George Russell targeting improvements to avoid another ‘what if’ F1 campaign

A driver who spent the first three years of his Formula 1 career struggling at the back of the grid with Williams (albeit honing his skills and gaining in experience), when he was finally promoted to Mercedes for the 2022 season, Russell could reasonably have assumed that his time had come, that his patience, although tested at Williams, would be rewarded with race-winning machinery.

After all, despite F1 heading into a new era with ground-effect cars, Mercedes had won the previous eight Constructors' Championships. The reasonable expectation was that it would be front-runners again.

Mercedes, though, got it horribly wrong from the outset and never truly recovered. Over four frustrating seasons, the team amassed just seven Grand Prix victories, with Russell scoring five of those, providing a small taster of what might have been for the 28-year-old.

This is now season number eight for Russell. His debut in Australia in 2019 probably seems like a lifetime ago.

For the Briton, 2026 is a campaign he is still trying to figure out and get on top of in light of his post-British Grand Prix comments. When he made the short journey home from the Monaco Grand Prix paddock to his penthouse in the principality, it would have been a dispiriting ride.

Teenage team-mate Kimi Antonelli had just scored his fifth consecutive race victory, setting records along the way, whilst Russell was a miserable 12^th. He was one of the unwitting victims of the pit-lane speeding chaos which had unfolded during the race, exacerbated by the fact his initial five-second hit was not served correctly, leading to an additional drive-through sanction.

That relegated him out of the top ten, opening up a 68-point chasm to the buoyant Antonelli.

After retiring whilst running second two weeks previously in Canada, Russell must have wondered what he had done to deserve such ill-gotten luck.

Fast forward a few weeks on from Monaco, and how the tables have turned. Victory in Austria was sandwiched by finishing second in Spain and Silverstone. In stark contrast, Antonelli retired in both of those latter two races, either side of a third-placed finish in Spielberg.

All of a sudden, luck and momentum have shifted towards Russell, and now there is just a 25-point gap between the duo, who are also looking over their shoulders at a Ferrari team, spearheaded by Lewis Hamilton, mounting a challenge.

Russell at least acknowledges he has been second best to Antonelli this season. "Whether the luck has balanced out or not, I'm not sure," he said.

"However, based on my performances and based on his performances over the course of these nine races, I think a 25-point gap in his favour is probably correct. He has done a better job than me this year to this point, so he deserves to be ahead of me.

"Whether it should be 25 points, whether it should be ten points, whether it should be 35 points is a debate, but in that ballpark between ten to 30 points behind is probably about fair."

Despite salvaging second place at Silverstone, after pitting for a slow puncture with 15 laps remaining had pitched him out of the hunt for a podium, all was not well with Russell post-race, despite luck seemingly evening itself out again when the Grand Prix finished behind the safety car following a crash involving Red Bull's Max Verstappen a few laps from the end.

Russell described his weekend as "very challenging", adding that "things within my control [were] not good enough; things outside of my control haven't been good enough," resulting in "poor pace".

Perhaps of considerable significance, Russell stated that he is "still struggling to understand this car," leaving him "less satisfied than probably Canada, when I broke down from the lead."

Whilst his title hopes may have been revived over the past three Grands Prix, he knows he is falling short of where he needs to be to go the distance.

"If I want to fight for the Championship, the performances need to be better; I need to be better; I need to be working better with my team; we need to be maximising everything," he said. "We've got a close fight now with Ferrari, so it's not just Kimi and I. Lewis is still very close. It needs to be improved."

Although mentioning Ferrari, Russell again pointed an accusatory finger at himself when asked for his view on the threat from the Scuderia.

"I'm not even thinking about it, to be honest, because I've got my own things I need to deal with and improve upon on my own side," he said.

"I left Monaco three races ago 68 points behind, and I leave [Silverstone] 25 points behind. I would take it, but it won't continue like that forever unless the results, the performances, get better."

Even Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said that Russell endured "days of struggle" at Silverstone due to the fact he was "not gelling with the car".

Wolff indicated there was "a straight-line speed issue" that was arguably related to more of a mechanical problem than engine power, and although better in the race than in the two days of track action previously, he knows it is something Mercedes need to get on top of.

Bad luck and technical gremlins aside, Russell has made clear that he is not getting the most out of himself, never mind the car at various stages, which is naturally of considerable concern.

There is, though, enough time and there are enough opportunities for him to turn the situation around to ensure his eighth year in F1 is a success; otherwise, it could turn into another of those cases of what might have been.

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Images courtesy of Getty Images.