George Russell received a strong warning from former Formula 1 driver Ralf Schumacher after the Miami GP. The German believes that the Briton could lose ground within Mercedes if Kimi Antonelli’s growth continues at the same pace throughout the season.
According to Schumacher, Antonelli performed much better than his teammate in Miami. The former driver stated that the difference between the two was evident both in lap times and in the pace shown by the Italian during the weekend.
“I have to be completely honest, Kimi Antonelli completely outperformed George Russell in Miami. That’s exactly it. The differences were huge, also in terms of lap times. He was in another league with Mercedes. It was a real thrashing for George Russell, no doubt,” he said on the Backstage Boxengasse podcast.
For Schumacher, the current situation may facilitate Toto Wolff’s internal decisions regarding the team hierarchy. The German believes that Antonelli already appears as Mercedes’ main name to lead the championship fight, while Russell would take a secondary role.
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“For Toto, the situation is perfect because now he has his number one driver. His number one, who can fight for the world championship, and Russell, who can score points. That’s how it looks at the moment,” he said.
The former driver also stated that Antonelli should gain more and more influence within Mercedes. According to Schumacher, the young Italian tends to receive more attention from the team in technical decisions and in working alongside the race engineer: “It will be interesting to see if Russell can change that. I think it will be difficult for him. If things continue like this, he will quickly be in the number two position, like Valtteri Bottas back then,” he added.
Russell started the 2026 season as one of the title favorites but has lost performance in the last Formula 1 stages. The Briton is now twenty points behind Antonelli in the drivers’ standings and has not managed to get on the podium in the last two races, while the Italian continues to strengthen his position within Mercedes.
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