Why George Russell is behind Kimi Antonelli at F1 Miami GP

Russell heads into the grand prix seven points behind Antonelli in the standings with the F1 sophomore searching for his third, consecutive Sunday victory.

But this is arguably the first time he’s truly had the edge over Russell in 2026, as bad luck on the Briton’s side cost him in the last two rounds after winning the Melbourne opener from pole.

Speaking more on Miami not suiting him, Russell told Sky Sports: “I'm quite a smooth, precise driver, and that's always been my style, and on these tracks you've just got to be happy with the car just sliding.

“I like the car on the edge, but this is like you've got a set of 200 lap old tyres on your car, and you go around and it's just sliding understeer and oversteer.

“That's the same for everybody, for what it's worth, it's so hot, tyre pressures are high, the grip's really low, so it doesn't actually feel that pleasant, whereas you go to tracks like Saudi, and the grip's super high, and it feels mega to drive, and that's why.”

His Mercedes boss Toto Wolff even held a rather interesting tennis analogy as to why Russell has been struggling this weekend.

The Austrian told Sky Sports: “George said to me that there are drivers who struggle with certain tracks and here the asphalt is very smooth. It's almost like a player that is good on clay and another one that is better on a hard surface.

“But through qualifying he made it and made it up in the times and it's just a smidge missing to P3. So I'm really happy also to see that his development over qualifying on a track that he's not 100% comfortable.”

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