George Russell believes his recent lapse in form was caused by drawing too heavily on his team mate’s approach to setting up Mercedes’ car.
After claiming pole position for tomorrow’s race, Russell said he had rethought how he was working with the W17.
“It’s car set-up, mentality, just going back to basics really,” said Russell. “These cars are so complicated, the tyres are complicated, the power units are complicated, and it’s challenging to get on top of things.”
Antonelli, who took third on the grid for Sunday’s race, has won the last five grands prix in a row. Russell said Antonelli had been “performing so well” that he began trying to adopt what his team mate was doing with his car.
“You’re trying to constantly improve and I think that doing some copy-pasting probably really put me on the back foot,” he explained. “This weekend I’ve just gone in my own direction and that’s what I’ve done in the past for the last few years, and really glad to see it paying off.”
Russell is optimistic he has regained the confidence in the car that he lacked in recent rounds. “It just feels back to what I felt at the start of the year during winter testing in Barcelona here, Bahrain testing, Melbourne, China. I felt really comfortable in the car, really happy.
“Miami was the first weekend where everything felt pretty challenging, and that’s where I think, I can accept, and with my direct group of engineers we can accept, we probably made some wrong decisions in these last three races.
“More than anything, more than this pole position, I’m just glad to feel myself again, feel at one with the car again, as I have done for the last few years.”
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2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix
- Russell blames “copy-pasting” Antonelli’s approach for recent slump
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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