An upgraded car and a “painful” reminder not to lose sight of the Formula 1 fundamentals could be George Russell’s path back to the front of the field at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Russell’s fourth place at the last race in Miami gave his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli a yawning 20-point lead in the standings after four races. The 19-year-old Italian has won three in a row.
Russell said one reason he lost ground was focusing too much on the standout feature of the 2026 cars, their massive electrical power output, and neglecting the basics.
“Dealing with the tires, dealing with the setup, just fundamentals of racing, has kind of been put on the back-burner because we’re all so focused on energy management,” he said.
“We missed some key things because we were focused elsewhere and that was a good little reminder. As painful as it was, it was a very much-needed weekend because I think it’s going to prove very beneficial.”
Antonelli’s lead grew in Miami because McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull brought upgrades that helped them fight for the podium places. Now it’s Mercedes’ turn to bring upgraded parts for the car that’s won all four Grand Prix races in 2026 so far.
On Friday in qualifying for the sprint race Saturday, Russell edged Antonelli for the pole.
“This is an amazing circuit here,” Russell said. “High grip, feels like you’re driving a proper Formula 1 car around here, which is how it should be and I’m glad today it came together.”
Antonelli’s place in history
Canada offers the chance of a big points swing. It’s hosting a sprint race Saturday for the first time, putting another maximum eight points on offer.
The threat of rain in Montreal on Sunday would shake things up, too. After storms predicted for Miami never materialized, the 2026 cars have yet to race in wet weather.
It’s early to talk of the title at just the fifth round of the season but a fourth win in a row would put the 19-year-old Antonelli into an exclusive club. Every driver who’s won four or more consecutive Grands Prix has been an F1 champion at some point in their career.
History does offer a little encouragement to Russell, though. The one time in F1 history that a driver won four consecutive races in a season but not the title came in 2016 when Lewis Hamilton was beaten by his then-Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.
More recently, Oscar Piastri won three in a row for McLaren last year and still lost to teammate Lando Norris.
Another wave of engine changes
It’s a busy time to be an F1 engine manufacturer.
The extra engine power agreed for 2027, with electrical power turned down and less need to recharge batteries, got a cautious welcome Thursday from Max Verstappen, the biggest critic of the 2026 cars, who said it was “almost back to normal.”
Meanwhile, the FIA is pushing to return to old-school V8s from 2030, and there’s more immediate change coming after this weekend.
Under a new-for-2026 rule, after the Canadian Grand Prix, the FIA will confirm some manufacturers will get extra development time and budget to improve their engines, but only if they’re a certain margin behind the best-performing engine, widely agreed to be Mercedes.
The scheme, known as ADUO, is meant to nudge F1 gently toward engine parity over the next few years and avoid what FIA rules guru Nikolas Tombazis last year dubbed “eternal misery” for teams who picked slower engines.
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