Russell, Antonelli really deserved the world title

The difficulties he encountered in 2026, as his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli took the drivers' title, were "difficult to manage" and left him "often confused". George Russell had started the season as favourite, winning the first race, but then the Italian's unstoppable rise ended up overwhelming him. With a post on Instagram the British driver, after having deserted the post-race media and the party of his newly world champion teammate, finally congratulated Antonelli "for what was an absolutely incredible season", adding that "he really deserved the championship". Toto Wolff had said that Russell was "distraught".

"I feel like this is the right time to speak from the heart. The season had started exactly as I had hoped, but it quickly went downhill due to bad luck and disappointing performances - wrote the driver, 28 years old, in his fifth year with Mercedes -. It was the first real season of my career in which I had more negative days than positive ones. Was it difficult to deal with? Yes, a lot. Was it difficult to get back up, week after week? Yes, a lot. Moments of confusion? Often, all I know is that I gave it my all; evidently, 2026 wasn't my year."

Russell had three wins to Antonelli's nine.

The sixth place achieved on Sunday in the Mexico City GP - with Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton first and second respectively, ahead of Antonelli - made Russell slip to fourth place in the World Championship standings.