A race-winner in Melbourne, Russell has been on the back foot ever since. But former team boss Claire Williams is backing him over a full season
Mercedes-AMG
George Russell sits 40 points behind in the Formula 1 championship race, and looks to be on the back foot against his team-mate Kimi Antonelli, despite winning the Austrian Grand Prix last weekend.
But ex-team boss Claire Williams has backed her former driver to finish the season on top, saying that the championship will come down to a battle of the strongest minds.
She said that Russell is perfectly placed to win because of his greater experience and maturity, which saw him being labelled as ‘grandpa’ while he was a youngster racing karts.
“It’s a psychological battle that wins the war at the end of the day, and I think George, because he’s got a layer of maturity perhaps over Kimi at this stage, just by sheer numbers, I think that’s where he will win the fight,” said Williams at a media event ahead of the British Grand Prix.
Russell won the first round of the season in Australia but has been increasingly overshadowed by his Mercedes team-mate ever since. Weak performances and reliability issues saw Antonelli win five consecutive races.
Victory in Austria saw Russell move to within 40 points of Kimi Antonelli in the title race
Mercedes-AMG
He was then fortunate to close the championship gap in Barcelona when Antonelli’s car failed just after he’d passed his team-mate for second place.
Russell won in Austria last weekend but Antonelli, who destroyed his chances of victory by running off track twice on the first lap, underlined his threat with superior race pace.
For a driver who has been biding his time for seven years, it could prove disheartening.
Mercedes-backed Russell made his F1 debut with Williams in 2019 as the reigning Formula 2 champion, then spent most of the next three years at the back of the grid in an uncompetitive car, waiting for a space to open up at the dominant Mercedes team.
All smiles with Claire Williams in 2019 but, behind the scenes, Russell was itching for a faster car
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When it finally did, in 2022, Russell found himself in a car that was no longer the class of the field, and several frustrating years — peppered by a handful of wins — followed. at the same time, his former F2 rival, Lando Norris was moving towards becoming world champion.
Now, with a car that matches his undoubted talent, 28-year-old Russell has a rival from a new, younger generation, who has experienced much less of the frustration that dogged his early Formula 1 years.
But Williams believes that Russell’s patience — including three years at the team her father co-founded — has steeled him for the title fight.
She said: “Whenever George was at Williams, and he wanted to get out of his contract, and he just could see the Mercedes — they were winning everything — my argument was always, ‘These years they might be hard and you might be miserable right now, but they will stand you in good stead and provide a really strong platform and a cloak of resilience that you may need to call upon in your later years in Formula 1’.”
George Russell closed the F1 title gap to 40 points with victory in the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix, but championship leader Kimi Antonelli remained the class of the field
The difference between the apparently laid-back, bubbly Antonelli and the more intense, focused Russell has been frequently commented on this year; even Mercedes boss Toto Wolff described the Austrian Grand Prix win as “cold-blooded”.
But while Antonelli’s approach may be more fan-friendly, Russell’s demeanour is an advantage in the title race, says Williams.
“George is just thorough, and he’s a perfectionist, and I think that that can only be an advantage in the position that he’s finding himself in this year,” she said.
“He used to tell a story [about] karting with his dad when he was very young. I think people used to nickname him Grandpa because he just behaved in an extraordinarily mature way for his years, and I think that level of maturity afforded him that level of perfectionism.
“That’s George, isn’t it? He’s just buttoned up and he is myopically focused, and everything for him he has to do to the best of his abilities.”
Claire Williams saw Russell’s resilience first-hand in 2019 and 2020
George Brabner
Russell’s attitude is as evident on track as it is in the paddock, with a measured, calculated approach to racing that contrasts with the more gung-ho displays from Antonelli. Williams compared it to Alain Prost’s “cerebral” approach, pointing out that the four-time world champion achieved plenty of success without “just sending it”.
“From my experience of George, I think he is perfectly capable of winning that psychological battle when it comes to trying to win a world championship, competing for that against your team-mate, who is invariably going to be the hardest competitor that you have, because you’re in the same equipment,” she added.
“George, what he’s really good at, is he’s quite self-aware and he’ll be sitting there thinking each and every day, what do I need to do in order to surpass my team-mate? How can I win that battle?”
