Former System 1 race engineer Rob Smedley has argued that George Russell is “overthinking” his 2026 title problem, urging the Mercedes driver to rediscover his “movement state” amid a rising factors deficit to his team-mate Kimi Antonelli.
Throughout an episode of the Excessive Efficiency Racing podcast alongside former Alpine crew principal Otmar Szafnauer and broadcaster Jake Humphrey, Smedley analysed the widening hole between the 2 Mercedes drivers and the intra-team dynamics on the Brackley outfit.
“You have to be in a movement state, proper? That is the place Kimi is true now. Kimi is in a movement state, and he is simply doing it very, very naturally. When he will get within the automotive, he delivers, would not overthink. Due to this fact, he would not overdrive, and it is simply occurring for him,” Smedley defined.
He added: “You possibly can’t be overthinking it. And if I observe George from the skin and hearken to what is going on on as properly, I feel that he’s overthinking it, fairly frankly.
George Russell, Mercedes
Photograph by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Pictures through Getty Pictures
“There is not any doubt, and this can be a message for George. There is not any doubt you possibly can drive a grand prix automotive. There’s completely little question on this planet. Whether or not or not Kimi’s a tenth sooner or a tenth slower is irrelevant, proper? He has to get his head so as as a result of that is the place the lap time and the factors and this world championship is now, not in his driving.”
After profitable the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and the Chinese language dash race, Russell was simply one of many favourites for the 2026 title. However a run of spectacular kind from his teenage team-mate and a few unhealthy luck for the Briton allowed Antonelli to increase his lead within the drivers’ championship.
After the primary half of the season, Antonelli leads the standings with 219 factors. Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton sits second with 169 factors and Russell is third with 160 factors.
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