That said, the mood in the garage tells a completely different story. Following the Mexico City Grand Prix, George Russell took to Instagram to share an emotional reflection on his 2026 campaign, admitting that the year simply "was not meant to be my year" after team mate Kimi Antonelli secured the Drivers' Championship.
Antonelli's triumph in Mexico City saw him claim his maiden title and become the youngest World Champion in Formula 1 history, finishing third behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton. But for Russell, the weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was just another chapter in a deeply frustrating year. Having narrowly missed out on pole position, his race unraveled immediately due to a power deployment issue on the opening lap that cost him several positions, compounded later by a collision with Isack Hadjar that drew a 10-second time penalty on his way to a sixth-place finish.
Here's the thing: it all started so differently. Russell opened his account with a victory at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, fueling genuine title ambitions. But as the year wore on, the campaign unravelled under the weight of reliability issues, poor performances, and inconsistent form. Despite adding wins in Austria and Azerbaijan, he has struggled to consistently extract maximum performance from the Mercedes W17, a machine that Team Principal Toto Wolff noted suffers from a notoriously narrow operating window. Wolff admitted after the race that Russell was left "distraught" by the outcome, though he praised the Briton for graciously congratulating his young team mate despite his own pain.
In his heartfelt social media post, Russell didn't shy away from the brutality of the season. "This season started off exactly how I had hoped but it very quickly unravelled with tough luck and poor performances," he wrote, adding that it was the first proper season of his career with more bad days than good. Yet, amidst the confusion and the immense struggle of picking himself up week after week, he paid full tribute to the new champion. "I want to sincerely congratulate Kimi on what has been an incredible season. You truly deserve the Championship."
Russell also took a moment to recognize the wider team effort, thanking everyone involved in bringing Mercedes back to the front of the grid under the new regulations and delivering the best car and power unit on the grid after four tough years of development.
With four rounds remaining in the 2026 campaign, the focus now shifts entirely to finishing strong and preparing for next year, when both he and Antonelli will continue as Mercedes team mates. "Now, all I can promise is that for the rest of this season, and into the next one, I will be giving my absolute all to rediscover the performance I have been capable of producing for the majority of my career and fingers crossed a little bit of luck returns," Russell concluded.
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