George Russell Had Just 6 Races Without an Issue in 2026, but Won’t Blame Luck

George Russell says he had only six races without an issue this season but won’t blame his F1 title loss on luck or Mercedes.

After years of waiting, Russell thought he finally had the opportunity to fight for his first F1 title with Mercedes. He got the win in Australia and finished second in the next race. But things started to spiral downwards for him as the season progressed.

At the same time, Antonelli picked up pace, and there was no stopping the Italian. He had his own share of reliability issues, but not as much as Russell. And, finally, the youngster took the F1 title in Mexico, with four races remaining.

He was indeed a deserving champion. Russell lost points, but he is not blaming all of it on luck for what happened in the course of the 2026 F1 season. And yet, he highlights that he only had six clean races from the 19 done so far.

Russell Says He Had Only Six Races Without an Issue

“Yeah, I mean, post-Mexico I was just more disappointed with how the race unfolded,” he said to the media for the first time since losing the title. “It felt like a good opportunity to fight for the victory. Starting P2 in Mexico is always a great chance to go for the lead at Turn 1, and then just another race with something outside of your control was very difficult to accept.

“I went through every race this season with my engineers, and we’ve only had six races this season where we didn’t have an issue. So, in 14 of those races, we’ve had things that have been what we thought was bad luck, but we need to start questioning things more deeply when it’s happening so often and especially on our side.

“So yeah, that was the main feeling for me.” Going with it, Russell doesn’t blame it on Mercedes either. He feels that things can happen, and it happened to him. He compared this year’s fast but unreliable car with last year’s reliable one, which left him fourth in the championship.

Besides, he also had races with penalties that hurt his chances ultimately. “I don’t think the team have let me down, honestly, because these things do happen,” continued Russell. “Nobody intends for it to happen. We’re all trying our best to deliver the best, and last year we had a car that was extremely reliable, and we only finished fourth in the championship.

Russell Doesn’t Think Mercedes Let Him Down

“This year we have a car that’s extremely fast, but has been unreliable. So, which one do you prefer? We weren’t satisfied last year, and then, of course, yeah, even though the team will win both championships, they’re still not satisfied with this season. And then as for my own championship, it’s difficult to put a number on how much it’s impacted the championship because it’s often about momentum.

“And when we started the season, and we had the issue in China with the failure in qualifying, we had the issues in Japan. We had an engine failure in Canada; we had the drive-through penalty. There wasn’t a drive-through penalty in Monaco. These things compound, and if you’re in the championship fight or you’re within touching distance, you don’t feel like you’re having to catch up.

“And maybe that contributed to overdriving and trying to overachieve. Maybe not. You can’t answer it. And I’m not looking to answer it. Just altogether, it just hasn’t been the year we wanted,” summed up Russell.

Russell Says He Can’t Just Blame Luck

Russell pointed out that Antonelli and Pierre Gasly, whose Alpine also uses a Mercedes engine, have had issues too. He said that’s why it’s important not to be naive and just blame luck.

“Yeah, I mean I’m on the face of it I didn’t really have any issues with the power units this year, but just I think the concept was fine. It’s just the complexity of it is just enormous, and the amount of issues that we’re seeing up and down the grid is immense. And we have unfortunately just had the rough end of the stick, the issue I had in Mexico.

“There was one other Mercedes car that had it, which was Gasly. So, it’s not like I am the only one getting all of these issues, and Kimi’s had some issues as well at some points, but yeah, the majority of the things have unfortunately come on our side. So yeah, moving into ’27, I think it’s also important not to, like, be naive and just blame luck for not being victorious.

“I think you need to look at yourself hard in the mirror, think about where you could have done a better job. If these issues have been any contribution to a lack of preparation on your side, I don’t believe it is, but we need to go through that with my team. And things will come good again. I’ve got no doubts about it.”

Russell ‘Exhausted’ From Picking Himself Back Up

“Yeah, what I would say, as I said, I could feel a bit exhausted this season of constantly picking myself back up. When you get kicked to the ground, you pick yourself back up, and then you get kicked down again, you pick yourself back up, and I was hoping to do that maybe twice in the season, not every other weekend, really.

“I think when you get to a point of this season, you’re away from home for 3 weeks in a row, and you have another race like what happened in Mexico where a chance of victory, a chance of the podium just disappears totally outside your control. It’s tough to deal with. It’s very tough to deal with.

“So, Brazil is a place that I love; I’ve got great memories of it. Do I come in with high expectations? Honestly, no, to be honest. Yeah. But looking forward to, yeah, looking forward to next year for sure, and we just continue to work on the things that I can control and pray the things outside of my control sort themselves out.”