George Russell's form hit a new low at the United States Grand Prix, despite glimmers of progress in the Formula 1 grands prix shortly before then. In Austin, the Mercedes driver qualified over four tenths behind team-mate Kimi Antonelli, slumping to an eighth-placed finish on Sunday while the 20-year-old took another step to the world title with a ninth win of 2026.
There were some mitigating circumstances behind Russell's P8, as a five-second penalty on lap one dropped him behind McLaren's Oscar Piastri. Permanently, as it would transpire. But Mercedes boss Toto Wolff pointed out afterwards that that "doesn't make any difference to the underlying problem that we need to solve”.
It came despite a slight upturn in form following the summer break, like his Baku win, before the Russell-sized problems grew worse and worse heading into Texas. Other than a strong performance in Singapore sprint qualifying, taking second before crashing from the lead, he hasn't qualified higher than sixth - or higher than Antonelli - since Mercedes introduced its major Malaysia upgrade. Though, of course, he was on course for third at Sepang until a late engine failure.
Nevertheless, Russell isn’t having the best of times with the new package and looked bereft of ideas as to why things aren't clicking for him. But the prevailing theory is that the new-look W17, while demonstrably faster at its peak, has a much narrower performance window. Whether a matter of driving style or adaptation, when the car isn't in that sweet spot, Russell appears to be all at sea.
"George just struggled so much," Wolff said. "I believe this is because the operational window of the car is so difficult. In Q2 he was there and thereabouts. Q3 didn't work. He said: 'That goes on me.'
“In the race, I don't know, we got stuck behind Piastri, which looks a bit unfair. Why he didn't get past is [because they have] the same engine, it's the same electric charging and deployment."
Russell and Wolff in Montreal
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Russell summed up his race as "six good laps, 50 bad laps", but was otherwise at a loss for words to explain his unravelling performances. "I want to understand why the pace was so bad in the first stint,” he said, now with a 123-point gap to Antonelli. “The penalty was a bit ridiculous as well, but that was least of my worries after such a bad weekend.
"The potential is there, but the window is narrow. I mean, we saw it in Malaysia. I think he [Antonelli] was quickest in FP3 and then we qualified fourth and eighth. And then this weekend we were both up there in Q2, and then I was nowhere in Q3 and nowhere [in the race].
"He obviously was exceptionally competitive, and there are signs that the window is very small. I hope that's an explanation for my lack of pace today, but I need to dig deep with my team because it's difficult to understand when you're so far off.”
Asked if he feels he has gone backwards in recent weeks, Russell said: "A little bit, a little bit. So, I don't have the answers right now and I need to give it 24 hours to think clearly!"
Russell had already thrown the kitchen sink at adapting his driving style to the 2026 cars, a process which started after winning the Melbourne opener from pole, having had few answers to Antonelli's run of five consecutive wins - even if the Briton encountered some misfortune.
That means his problems are unlikely to be solved over the five remaining races of this year, so Mercedes is banking on its 2027 car being more suited to both drivers, or to Russell at least unlocking fresh ways to exploit it.
Russell was the heavy title favourite when he won from pole in Australia
Photo by: Joe Portlock / Getty Images
Wolff was adamant Russell would be able to brush off the disappointment of being usurped by a much younger and less experienced team-mate. The Austrian insisted the 28-year-old still has what it takes to mount his own title challenge based on the way he rose through the ranks - taking back-to-back GP3 and F2 crowns - fared against Lewis Hamilton during their time together, and proved competitive in 2025 when the car wasn't.
"George is a champion and has won in every category. I think he merits to be put in the group of the very best ones. We saw that last year,” said Wolff, explaining that Mercedes shares the responsibility of solving Russell's puzzle.
"This year we see this variability in results. When we land the car in the way that suits him, he's absolutely fast. But when it drops out of that operational window, he struggles more than maybe Kimi - and that is on us.
"We just have to work it out with him, how there can be such a difference in driving, in performance, because George is not half a second or three tenths slower than Kimi. That's just absolutely not the case.
"So, what is it that he doesn't like? What is it that we need to do in terms of modifying the car, setting it up in a different way for him to go fast? Because it's all there, the intelligence, the ability, the determination."
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