George Russell broke his silence after skipping post-race media in Mexico with a blunt admission: "2026 was not meant to be my year." The Mercedes driver watched teammate Kimi Antonelli clinch the championship at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, capping a season that started with Russell as the title favorite.
The collapse was swift. Russell won in Australia and took the Chinese sprint before Antonelli seized the lead in Japan and never looked back. The 28-year-old called it "the first proper season of my career where I've had more bad days than good"—a rare public admission from a driver who entered the year as the preseason pick.
Two races remain, and the fight for second is live. Russell sits fourth, just 16 points behind Verstappen in P2, with Leclerc fifth and equally in range. A sixth-place finish in Mexico dropped him two spots, but he's promised to rediscover his form. Whether luck returns is another question.
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