‘There’s a long way ahead’ – Russell outlines winning mentality amid tight Mercedes battle

George Russell is confident that focusing on the bigger picture will pay off in the long term this season, as Mercedes prepare to defend their hold of the top of the Standings at the Miami Grand Prix.

The Silver Arrows have been the strongest team of the season so far, though Russell – who was widely regarded as the favourite for the 2026 title – currently finds himself nine points adrift of team mate Kimi Antonelli having finished P4 last time out in Japan.

Asked whether the dynamic within Mercedes has been affected by Antonelli leading the Championship with 72 points to Russell's 63, the Briton responded: “No, not at all. I was asked the question this morning and we were talking about the London Marathon.

“It made me think – the guy who’s running the London Marathon after three miles isn’t thinking about the finish line because he’s got 23 miles to go. We’re in race four of the season so it’s not even a consideration.

“Of course [Kimi]’s done an amazing job so far this year. The last race was a little bit unfortunate from my side but these things go one way one weekend and swing back later in the year. I’m experienced enough to know how a Championship works and there’s a long way ahead.”

Following a dominant weekend at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, the British driver dropped behind a victorious Antonelli in China before an unfortunately timed Safety Car saw him settle for fourth place in Japan.

With Mercedes eager to seal both Championships this season, Russell shared that he doesn’t want to allow a disappointing result or the intra-team battle to distract him from their rivals' improvement, especially as many of them are set to introduce upgrade packages in Miami.

“It’s pretty clear – we fight each other hard, but we fight each other fair,” he explained when asked about the team's approach. “Right now, there’s lots of talk about the fight between Kimi and I, but we also need to make sure that we continue being the ones to beat.

“Last year it was Oscar [Piastri] and Lando [Norris] and from nowhere, you had [Max] Verstappen come. Charles [Leclerc] is doing a great job, Lewis [Hamilton] is fast and McLaren are bringing their upgrade this weekend. I’m sure Red Bull won’t be in this position forever as well, so we can’t take it for granted.

“I’m just going about my business as usual. I want to be on pole, I want to make a good start, I want to at least be at the first corner in the position I started and fight for victory."

Speaking on media day ahead of the return of track action in Miami, Russell also admitted that he wants to remain realistic about Mercedes’ chances of succeeding at every round and remember how many scoring opportunities are on offer – something which he learned in his junior days when he won back-to-back GP3 and Formula 2 titles.

He said: “The championships I fought and won as a youngster weren’t from winning every single weekend – you have weekends where the car breaks down, you have an incident, you’re unfortunate.

“That’s the same with the guys who were fighting for the Championship last year. You’re always going to have these difficult weekends and I hope every difficult weekend results in either a P2, like we had in China, or a P4 like Japan.

"If that is my difficult weekend, I’m pretty damn happy with that. I’m hoping just to have a smooth weekend. I know that with a smooth weekend, I can win.

“The team have done such an amazing job to deliver us this car but from my side, I just need to keep ensuring that I’m driving as fast as possible every time I jump in the race car. We’re not taking it for granted – we’re still pushing ahead and trying to keep improving the car. We still have lots of things we need to improve, like the race starts, so full attack.”