George Russell: Mercedes driver insists 2026 Formula 1 season 'won't break me' as he looks set to lose title to Kimi Antonelli
George Russell admits he's "learned more than I would have liked about myself" this year after a difficult season against Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli; watch every session of the Mexico City GP with Friday's practice sessions at 6.30pm and 10pm, live on Sky Sports F1
Thursday 29 October 2026 22:24, UK
George Russell insists this year's Formula 1 season "won't break me" as Kimi Antonelli is set to become world champion this weekend in Mexico.
A top nine finish for Antonelli, or Russell or Lewis Hamilton failing to win Sunday's Mexico City Grand Prix, would secure the title for the Italian, who would be the youngest champion in F1 history at 20 years old.
Russell came into 2026 as favourite after dominating Antonelli last year but has won just three races to his team-mate's nine, regularly being outperformed throughout the season.
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"I've probably learned more about myself this year than I would have liked to in all honesty. The highs and lows you go through in sport are immense. That's because we all care so much for what we're doing," said Russell.
"I remind myself I'm 28 years old. I see Lewis still competing extremely well at 41 and Fernando at 44. Lewis won the majority of his titles in his 30s.
"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."
Russell pointed to an unusual trend where he's generally bounced back strongly from poor weekends or misfortune, including an underwhelming race in Madrid where Antonelli won, before a dominant performance on his way to pole and victory at the next race in Baku.
"I've been pretty proud of my resilience and how I've bounced back from very tough moments," he explained.
"Actually through my lowest points of this season, I've generally bounced back really, really strong then I had another bad race, after the good one, so maybe it's something I need to analyse as well because I always perform best after my worst races, which is maybe just a coincidence, maybe there's something in it.
"I've been racing more years of my life than I haven't. I've had more successful years than relative failures, and I don't think any athlete, no matter how great, has every single year of their career performing at their highest level.
"Unfortunately, this year for me has come at maybe the time when I needed it most. But it's by no means the end of my journey. I've still got a good 12 to 15 years left in me."
Russell: Antonelli has been at a higher level than me
Antonelli's title-winning campaign is a big surprise after his challenging rookie season in 2025 as he has completely turned the tables in the Mercedes head-to-head battle.
Russell finished eighth last time out in Austin while Antonelli won and the British driver says "it's important to find some consistency" and admits his team-mate has been getting more out of the car.
"On a personal level, Kimi is obviously a great guy with lots of energy. We've had no reason this year not to continue a good relationship," he said.
"I think a lot of these rivalries start because of on-track incidents or actions. The truth is he's been at a higher level than me this year, so we've not really been in that situation too often.
"We've had one or two races, and when it comes to the race itself, we sort of keep ourselves to ourselves and work with our individual engineers to try and get the most out of it."
Antonelli missed Thursday's media day at the Mexico City Grand Prix due to a viral illness but is expected to be fit enough to drive in Friday's practice sessions.
He told Sky Sports F1 in Austin: "The perfect way would be to finish off in style and enjoy the rest of the season.
"I'm very well aware it's very close but the mindset hasn't changed. I want to finish the season on a high in order to have high hopes in 2027.
"First we focus and worry about finishing this [season] well and we will see."
Sky Sports F1's live Mexico City GP schedule
Friday October 30
6pm: Mexico City Grand Prix Practice One (session starts at 6.30pm)*
8pm: The F1 Show
9pm: Team Bosses' Press Conference
9.30pm: Mexico City Grand Prix Practice Two (session starts at 10pm)*
Saturday October 31
5.15pm: Mexico City Grand Prix Practice Three (session starts at 6.30pm)
8pm: Mexico City Grand Prix Qualifying build-up
9pm: MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING
11pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook
Sunday November 1
5pm: F1 Academy Race 3
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Mexico City GP build-up
8pm: THE MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Chequered Flag: Mexico City GP reaction
11pm: Ted's Notebook
*also on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 next heads south for the second leg of The Americas triple-header with the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime
