A deflated George Russell said he still hasn’t got to grips with Mercedes car after lagging behind his team mate all weekend at Silverstone.
Although Russell left his home race closer to Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the points standings, he admitted he had been off the pace.
“The feeling was good, but the lap times were slow,” said Russell. “There were things outside of my control that contributed a lot towards that, and things in my control.”
Russell appeared to pull himself out of an early slump when he scored his second victory of the season in Austria. He previously suggested he made the mistake of “copy-pasting” his team mate’s set-ups.
But after trailling Antonelli all weekend at Silverstone, Russell conceded: “I’m still struggling to understand this car.”
He unexpectedly climbed to second place in the latter stages of the race partly thanks to Antonelli suffering a technical problem on his car.
“I probably leave this weekend, albeit extremely grateful to stand on the podium, less satisfied than in Canada, when I broke down [in] the lead.
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“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. We’ve got a close fight now with Ferrari, so it’s not just Kimi and I, Lewis [Hamilton] is still very close. It needs to be improved.”
Antonelli’s late drama helped Russell close within 25 points of his team mate in the championship. Russell says the gap is a fair reflection on their performances so far.
“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 said. “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 10 points, whether it should be 35 points is a debate, but in that ballpark. I obviously lost 15 points as well in Monaco with the drive-through penalty. I think anywhere from 10 to 30 points behind is probably about fair.”
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2026 British Grand Prix
- Sainz calls poor British Grand Prix weekend “a wake-up call” for Williams
- Russell admits he is “still struggling” to understand Mercedes’ car
- British GP win answers the ‘negative narratives’ about me says Leclerc
- Sainz penalised one lap for illegally overtaking Safety Car
- Hamilton keeps third as stewards reprimand him for failing to slow for yellow flag
Published by
Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 – when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring journalist, Keith began running the site full-time in 2010, achieving a long-held ambition to dedicate his full attention to his passion for motor racing. View all posts by Keith Collantine