Russell vows to rebuild after Antonelli seals Formula 1 title

George Russell has pledged to recover his form after Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli secured the Formula 1 drivers’ championship, acknowledging the personal difficulty of a season that began with a victory. BBC Sport reported that Russell congratulated Antonelli in an Instagram post while describing a campaign marked by both disappointing performances and misfortune.

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Russell entered the season as the favourite and won the opening race, but Antonelli went on to establish a decisive advantage. The Italian has nine victories to Russell’s three. Russell said this was the first full season of his career in which difficult days had outnumbered positive ones, and acknowledged that repeatedly trying to recover had been demanding. He also said he had been confused at times despite giving his maximum effort.

The Mexico City Grand Prix brought another setback. Russell finished sixth on Sunday as Max Verstappen won ahead of Lewis Hamilton, with Antonelli third. Those results dropped Russell to fourth in the championship, while Verstappen moved into second ahead of Hamilton. Russell had started alongside Hamilton on the front row, but a problem with energy deployment reduced his power at the start and cost him positions.

His race was further compromised by contact with Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar at Turn Six. Russell’s misjudgment sent Hadjar into a spin and resulted in a 10-second penalty. Although Russell had known before the race that Antonelli was likely to settle the championship, BBC Sport reported that he was close to tears during the post-race weighing procedure.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff subsequently excused Russell from his media commitments. Wolff said he had seen how upset the driver was and praised him for going to congratulate Antonelli. Russell, meanwhile, credited Mercedes with delivering the season’s strongest car and power unit, and praised the collective effort behind the team’s recovery after four difficult years.

Russell said his focus for the remaining races and next season would be restoring the level of performance he had shown through most of his career. Antonelli also backed his team-mate to recover, acknowledging Russell’s bad luck and describing him as difficult to beat when performing at his best. The new champion said his own priority remained improving, with rivals beyond Mercedes also in mind.