GEORGE RUSSELL DISCUSSES FORMULA 1 TITLE RACE

George Russell said his 2026 Formula 1 season would not define his career as Mercedes team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli approaches the world title. Antonelli can secure his first championship with a ninth-place finish at Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix, regardless of Russell’s result. Russell made his comments at Thursday’s FIA press conferences in Mexico City. “This year is absolutely not going to define my career as a whole. It’s not going to break me. If anything, it’s going to make me stronger,” he said.

Russell said the season’s highs and lows had taught him more about himself than he would have liked. He pointed to Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso as examples of drivers who continued to compete later in their careers. Russell also noted that Hamilton won most of his world titles after turning 30. Reliability failures have forced Russell to retire from several races during the 2026 campaign.

Russell said he was proud of how he had responded to difficult moments during the season. He said some of his strongest performances had followed his worst races, though he did not know whether that pattern meant anything. Russell said he planned to analyse it after also having poor races following good results. He described this season as a setback at a time when he had needed to perform well and said he believed he had another 12 to 15 years of racing ahead of him.