George Russell has congratulated teammate Kimi Antonelli for winning the Formula 1 Drivers World Championship, following a hugely disappointing season of his own.

Russell, who drives for the Brackley-based Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, was the odds-on favourite to win the title at the start of the 2026 campaign.

The Brit began his fifth full term with Mercedes in perfect fashion as he won the Australian Grand Prix, beating Antonelli by three seconds. Russell then won the China Sprint, boosting his confidence further.

But the wheels began to fall off Russell’s title hopes as early as the second main race, when Antonelli claimed his first-ever F1 victory at the Chinese Grand Prix.

From there, Antonelli went on to win the next four grands prix consecutively in Japan, Miami, Canada and Monaco to claim a maximum 100 points. Russell, meanwhile, picked up only 42 from Sunday races during that period.

After Monaco, Mercedes’ early-season dominance faded as Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc won races in Barcelona-Catalunya and Great Britain.

McLaren’s Lando Norris then won in Hungary and the Netherlands, before a more recent surge from Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen in Bahrain (Sepang), Singapore and the United States.

From reliability problems to on-track incidents, a lack of pace and an overall knock to his confidence, Russell will have known many weeks ago that his championship fight was already over.

Often wearing his heart on his sleeve, Russell, whose most recent race win was in Azerbaijan on September 26, will have understandably struggled to see his teammate clinch the title in Mexico City last weekend.

As much as he will be thrilled to see Mercedes back on the top step, there will no doubt be a feeling that it could have been him instead.

It came as no surprise, therefore, that Russell did not enter the media pen after Sunday’s race in Mexico. The 28-year-old seemingly wanted to gather his thoughts properly before saying anything too rash.

In a social media post on Monday night (November 2), Russell said: “Now feels like a pretty suitable moment to speak from the heart.

“This season started off exactly how I had hoped but it very quickly unravelled with tough luck and poor performances. It’s been the first proper season of my career where I’ve had more bad days than good.

“All I know is that I’ve given it my all and 2026 was not meant to be my year. I want to sincerely congratulate Kimi on what has been an absolutely incredible season. You truly deserve the Championship.

“Thank you to the team for producing the best car and power unit this season; it’s been inspiring to see everyone coming together over four tough years to bring Mercedes back to the top.

“Now, all I can promise is that for the rest of this season, and into the next one, I will be giving my absolute all to rediscover the performance I have been capable of producing for the majority of my career and fingers crossed a little bit of luck returns. Thanks all.”

Russell will be keen to put the championship disappointment behind him this weekend, as Mercedes have the chance to clinch the constructors’ title at Interlagos.

The Brazilian Grand Prix gets underway at 5pm on Sunday, November 8.