Russell declares he will fight for the 2026 title until it’s “mathematically impossible”
Despite trailing his teammate by 81 points, George Russell has stated that he will “keep fighting every single race until it’s mathematically impossible” that he can win the 2026 Formula 1 title.
F1 raced on a brand new circuit last round in Madrid, and when the dust settled, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli had claimed his eighth win of the 2026 season. Russell was only able to manage a fifth-place finish around the Madring, which only added to the growing points deficit between the two teammates.
Following the race, Russell seemed pretty deflated about his chances, going as far as saying that he was “not in the fight” for the championship after Antonelli’s dominance during the European leg.
It seems that over the week break in between Madrid and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Russell has altered his mental approach in terms of his chances in the title fight. When speaking to media Wednesday ahead of the Grand Prix weekend, Russell admitted that he intends to keep fighting for the title as long as he is still in contention.
"I'm going to keep fighting every single race until it's mathematically impossible," he said.
"It doesn't change how I go about my job. I want to try and win every single race and put it on pole every single race.”
Russell went on to emphasise that the pressure he has been feeling has little to do with the championship, and everything to do with the lack of performance he has been able to find in the car.
"I don't think I was really putting pressure on myself before from a championship standpoint. I was putting pressure on myself from a performance perspective. I'm in this position in the championship because the performance hasn't been strong enough.
"It's been the case for a while where the pressure has come from trying to improve the performance, rather than thinking I need to fight for this championship because you can only fight for a championship if you've got the performance."
The Briton has had multiple technical issues and failures across the season so far, many to no fault of his own. The Mercedes power unit has been a large topic of discussion across the entire grid, as reliability woes have plagued many of the other contenders who also possess the unit. Antonelli has already received the upgraded spec of the engine, and consequentially served the grid penalty for it in Monza.
Russell was initially projected to take on the new engine here in Baku, but has confirmed that he will be doing so at a later race on the calendar.
"I've been pleased with the progress since the summer break," Russell concluded. "The race pace, which was a weakness, has been substantially better and has been in the mix every race since the break.
"I now feel more comfortable that I can fight for great results. Let's see from now until the end of the season how the points could fall."
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