George Russell has been warned that he needs to find an 'overdrive' mode for 2027, or risk his F1 career at Mercedes coming to an end.

The British driver came into the season as the heavy favourite for the title, with the Silver Arrows producing comfortably the best car over the first half of the season after coming to grips with the new regulations faster than other teams.

However, Russell failed to capitalise on his team's superior machinery. The Brit slipped further and further back from young team-mate Kimi Antonelli - in just his second season, coming off a rough rookie year - as the season progressed.

Antonelli won the title with four races to go on Sunday at the Mexico Grand Prix, with Russell all the way down in fourth in the championship, 130 points behind his 20-year-old team-mate.

Brundle admits Russell at career turning point

Long-time F1 commentator and former driver Martin Brundle told Sky Sports News this week that the Brit's relative lack of speed compared to his team-mate will hurt him, calling it an 'awful season'.

"Russell will be broken," Brundle said, "because he waited at Williams a long time as a Mercedes junior to get his chance. He got it just as they stopped winning.

"They suddenly turned up with these new 2026 cars, an early dominant car, it's not dominant right now, but it was certainly in the first phase of the season. And then this kid turns up and just transforms from a bit of a liability in year one to a generational talent in year two.

"George has had to observe that, and I think it's affected his own performance. He's been so unlucky but then Antonelli had his fair share of unreliability, dropping out of races too.

Brundle: Antonelli hammering could break Russell

"What will hit George hardest is that he couldn't match Antonelli for speed, for consistent speed. That's all that matters in this business, the stopwatch, it's a very antiquated system.

"Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year running through F1 cars, we live and die by the stopwatch. George has not been as fast as Kimi, especially in the second half of stints in a run on set of tyres. That's what will get to George.

"It might break George, but I think it'll make him, he'll find an overdrive, he has to. He has to come back next year and lift his game up. Meanwhile, he's had to suffer an awful season for himself. A brilliant season for a 19-year-old who has turned 20 through that season."

Mercedes right to hold Russell back from post-race media

Mercedes paid a €5,000 fine for Russell not partaking in post-race media availability, with Brundle backing the move to hold him back from the press.

"We get more access to F1 drivers than any other sport can dream of with top players, or what have you in their sports," he said.

"I think it was a step too far for George to go and have to congratulate him [Antonelli].

"He did congratulate him of course, underneath the podium, but to have to put up with questions like: 'How do you feel George? And is this the end of the road for you?' I don't blame him.

"The team got fined and I'd be very happy to pay that. Not to have to basically face the music to the world when I'm at my lowest ebb and I think that's fair enough frankly. George has either got an overdrive or it's game over."