“The championship is not even on my mind” Russell remains calm as title fight heats up

Written By Mia Wallace

Credit: Formula One

Mercedes’ George Russell is keeping a level head amidst the title fight with teammate Kimi Antonelli– winner of the last three races. 

Following chatter that Mercedes driver George Russell has become the “second driver” alongside championship leader Kimi Antonelli, the Briton addressed the narrative with the media on Thursday, making it clear where his mindset stands at this stage of the season.

“I’m just looking at myself as my main competitor,” Russell said when asked about his performance in relation to his teammate. 

“If I tick all of my boxes, I know I can beat anybody.” He added. 

“I’m not looking at my edge over anybody else, I’m looking at how do I get the best out of myself, my engineers, my car set-up, and if I can do that, I can win.”

Russell had a less-than-satisfactory weekend last round in Miami, where he struggled with energy management, tyre optimisation, and other moving parts in the larger picture. 

“Miami was a tough weekend for me, but plenty learned and I feel great going into this weekend,” he commented. 

This isn’t the first time Mercedes has dealt with two star drivers on their lineup. The team was practically flipped upside down when former Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg shared their intense title battle, creating what many called an “inner-team rivalry”. 

Back in April, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff was asked about the nature of that unique relationship and how the team would hypothetically handle a repeat with Russell and Antonelli.

“The oddity in Formula 1 is that the two team-mates are also the biggest competitors,” Wolff said. 

“We've learned a lot over the last 10-plus years in how to best handle these situations.” 

Later in the interview, Wolff added that he would never allow a Mercedes driver to feel “like this is all about him” in the event that things start to get tight in the championship.

But can tensions within the team truly be 100% prevented? We’ve seen similar situations in other teams, like McLaren last year in the 2025 championship fight. Despite McLaren claiming that there would be complete fairness between the two drivers, there were multiple race incidents that raised concerns for the relationship between drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. 

And yes, few drivers take on-track incidents to heart post-race, but with Mercedes finally back to its winning ways and championship-contending car, things may get a bit dicey down the road for the pairing of Russell and Antonelli.

When discussing Antonelli’s dominant performances in the past few races, Russell made sure to give his teammate his flowers.

“Kimi was exceptionally fast all last year.” He said. 

“The difference was we were in the mix with so many other teams, even getting through Q1 was a stress. He is performing on a high level, I saw that last year, and he is a fantastic driver.”

Still, Russell is not letting the teenager’s recent success alter his mindset surrounding the weekend ahead.

“It is just another race weekend. The championship is not even on my mind.”