Finlay McSporran
Published: 13:12 11 June 2026
George Russel finds himself third in the standings, in what should be a two horse race for the title.
After years of waiting for a championship winning car, his title bid appears to be over, all the while his teenage teammate basks in the glory.
It’s a tragic turn of events for a driver who has shown so much promise throughout his career.
But it’s a story we have seen before in Formula 1, and unfortunately for Russel, if history is anything to go by, things don’t get much better.
What went Wrong for Russel?
Sundays Monaco Grand Prix saw 19 year old Kimi Antionelli take his fifth win in a row.
His teammate Russel however finished p12. A five second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane was followed up with a drive through penalty, after his team failed to serve the five seconds at his pit stop.
It’s the second race a in a row where he has failed to score points. After battling teammate Antionelli for the lead last time out in Canada, a power unit issue forced him out of the race, as the Italian took yet anther win.
That’s two massive 25 point swings in Antonelli’s favour in back to back race weekends.
A result like that is usually a deciding moment in the championship. Think Lewis Hamilton’s engine failure in Malaysia 2016, Max Verstappen’s Silverstone crash in 2021, or McLaren’s double disqualification in Las Vegas last year.
There’s no doubting the fact that Russel is up against an immensely talented, once in a generation, kind of athlete here. Antionelli is arguably the most exciting driver to enter Formula 1 since Verstappen did in 2015.
But to lose 50 points through circumstances almost entirely out of his control is so incredibly unlucky.
One could make the argument that, in Formula 1 you create your own luck, and maybe Russel could be doing more to beat his younger teammate. Miami and Monaco were weekends where he was particularly off the pace, allowing the Ferrari’s, McLaren’s and Redbull’s to get between himself and Antionelli.
However the majority of the points dropped have been down to factors outside of his control. The timing of the safety car in Japan, the power unit failure in Canada, and driver through penalty in Monaco have lost him about 60 points in the title race. That’s a massive deficit to overturn.
Not only does Russel need to try and somehow build momentum when it seems like everything is going against him, he also needs to start beating Antionelli.
But that won’t be easy, as the Italian is in fine form at the moment, having just taken his fifth win in a row. Another victory for him in Barcelona this weekend would see him match Russel’s total career number of victories, in just his second season!
Is History Repeating Itself?
Now cast your mind back to 2016.
It’s round five in Barcelona, and it’s just been announced that 18 year old Max Verstappen has been promoted to Redbull Racing mid-season alongside Daniel Riccardo, who had been at the team since 2014.
Mercedes had won every single race so far that season. So imagine the surprise when Verstappen, the teenager, in his first race for Redbull, crossed the line in first place.
Granted there was a fair bit of luck involved, namely the two Mercedes crashing into each other on the opening lap and Riccardo being on the wrong strategy which left the door open for Max to take the win.
But the message was clear. Verstappen, albeit still a teenager, was already here and wanted to win. And the scariest part? He was only going to get better.
Ten years later and the Dutchman is inarguably one of the best drivers to ever grace the sport. 128 podiums, 71 wins, and four world titles to his name.
Like Russel, Riccardo joined Redbull just as their dominant spell came to an end. Both had waited patiently for their shot to drive for a championship winning team, but seemed to arrive at the wrong time.
Nevertheless, Riccardo put in a great performance over the course of his first season at Redbull, beating teammate Sebastian Vettel who had won the last four world championships with them.
Similarly, Russel joined Mercedes in 2022 alongside their hero Lewis Hamilton, who had won seven driver titles with the silver arrows since 2014. But Russel managed to beat him.
Both drivers proved that they were the future of their respective teams. They just had to grind out results until the car was good enough to fight for the title.
As for their legendary teammates, both would end up leaving to join Ferrari (another coincidence), which left the door open for someone else to make the step up.
This is where the stories differ slightly. Redbull initially hired Russian driver Daniil Kvyat for the 2015 season, whereas Mercedes went straight in with Antionelli once Hamilton left.
Despite doing well, Kvyat didn’t do enough to convince Redbull, and was replaced by Verstappen in May of 2016.
Both Russel and Riccardo now had a teenage wonderkid as teammate.
What can Russel learn from Riccardo?
Unlike Russel, who at least has a world championship capable car now, Riccardo never even had that opportunity.
Verstappen and himself were teammates until the Australian left at the end of 2018. After three years of fighting for podiums and the occasional win, Riccardo probably felt that if the team were to produce a competitive car, that Verstappen would have the advantage, and that Redbull saw him as the new future of the team.
Not wanting to be a number two driver, Riccardo moved to Renault for the 2019 season where he comfortably beat teammates Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon.
However it’s fair to say that the Renault was a step down from the Redbull, with a pair of third places in 2020 being the highlights of his stint at Enstone.
Meanwhile the Redbull was only getting better, and by 2021 they were ready to mount a title challenge with Verstappen.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
The biggest take away Russel can have from Riccardo’s experience is that moving to another team probably isn’t the best option right now.
Where would he go?
McLaren have Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked down on multi-year contracts. Charles Leclerc has just signed a new deal with Ferrari, and Lewis Hamilton doesn’t seem to be going anywhere right now either.
A move to Redbull would certainly be interesting given his history with Verstappen, but is also unlikely. They’ve got Isack Hadjar and Verstappen, with young Arvid Lindblad waiting in reserve.
The best thing for Russel , if he wants to win championships, is to stay at Mercedes and beat Antionelli.
Recovering the lost ground this season would be a monumental task. As mentioned earlier, the Italian has a 68 point lead in the standings, and no driver has ever overturned that kind of deficit and won the title.
But that’s not to say it’s completely impossible.
Max Verstappen himself nearly overturned a 104 point deficit to Lando Norris last year. He was seemingly out of it after the Dutch Grand Prix (round 15/24), but took the title fight right down to the final race, narrowly losing out by just 12 points in the end.
And that was passed the halfway point of the season. It’s only round seven of 22, and Russel has plenty of time and experience, but most importantly, talent to beat his young teammate, and get himself back into the title fight.
He just needs to seize the moment!
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