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A compilation of all the issues George Russell has faced in 2026. Please feel free to contact me with any updates. yewl.notion.site/GR63-2026-Gara…

there's still MUCH more to the story, but I'll have to come back to it later. In the meanwhile, this is a YouTube video that shows the MASSIVE COUNTERSTEERING Russell had to manage, making it IMPOSSIBLE to even attempt defense against Antonelli youtu.be/RAfnj8jDiZ8?t=…

Let's take a second to look at Mercedes' job descriptions on their article - "𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐬" 𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿 (for Russell, this is 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗗𝘂𝗱𝗹𝗲𝘆): - act as the link between the team and and the driver - make sure that the car and programme are properly managed - inform the driver of settings that promise to be faster 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿 (for Russell, this is 𝗞𝗮𝘁𝘀𝘂𝗵𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗞𝘂𝘄𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮, or 𝗞𝗮𝘁𝘀𝘂): - pour over telemetry and simulations - analyze particular performance subsystems such as the differential or the brake balance - give feedback to the Race Engineer (and thus the driver) based on car data of settings that promise to be faster Some noticeable keywords here: "𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭", "𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦"... oh wait, the exact same things Russell adjusted himself towards the end of a weekend - and found himself not hundredths, not tenths, but SECONDS of pace with. also the exact same things the Race Engineer didn't know that Russell had fixed at the end of that race. Some crude math for context: - Russell's average pace for laps 29~33 at the Miami GP, 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴: 𝟏:𝟑𝟑.𝟓𝟑𝟎 - Russell's average pace for laps 49~53 at the Miami GP, 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴: 𝟏:𝟑𝟐:𝟕𝟏𝟒 That's a 𝟬.𝟴𝟭𝟲𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲, NOT accounting for tyre degradation, NOT accounting for how Russell had to split his attention between Driving and Self-Engineering, NOT accounting for how Russell was driving those settings for the first time. So, in the case of Miami, not only did Russell's 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙡 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙥 𝙖𝙙𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙀𝘾𝙊𝙉𝘿𝙎 even with all his data, he also either 1. 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙍𝙪𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙨 & 𝙗-𝙗𝙖𝙡, or 2. 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙨 𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙍𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙀𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙧, or 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙝. Complete opposite of his job description. I cannot quite fathom how. Anyways, this Miami experience made Russell believe he should refer to his teammate's data as well in future races. But analyzing data with his engineers didn't work out. After a struggle in Monaco working out telemetry with his team, Russell flew into Barcelona, 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗽 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 and 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗰𝘁𝘀 only, and - 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜. Front Row FP1, FP2, FP3. Front Row in Q1, Q2, and Q3. Pole Position. Fastest pace before pitstop. but the magic only worked for the Tyres where driver feedback was available. Russell can not look at data. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗡𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮. With the Hard tyres, where no driver feedback was available from FP - the team first got him an 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿-𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴. Which means Understeer. Less speed at the apex. More left front tyre damage. And then, 𝙈𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙙𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜. Cranked it up too much. 𝙀𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚 𝙊𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙧. Massive sliding, counter-correcting. Reduced downforce. Rapid rear tyres degradation. 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝟓𝟒/𝟔𝟔 𝐋𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐩. 𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐏𝟐. But this is the most important takeaway: 𝑹𝒖𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒍'𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏, 𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒕-𝒖𝒑.

Question: 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹'𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿-𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝟮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝘆𝗿𝗲𝘀, 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶'𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲? The tyre allocation for the Barcelona GP weekend was 2 Hards, 3 Mediums, and 8 Softs. Almost 𝘯𝘰 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘺𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦, opting to save them for the Sunday race. Which means, there was 𝘯𝘰 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘱 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘺𝘳𝘦𝘴. It was 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝘀 to decide on the settings, including the front wing angles. Russell's pace was amazing during Qualifying (with Softs) + 1st Race stint (with Mediums). He'd had given precise feedback on his balance during FP, found what worked best for him - and it paid off handsomely. However, setup for his 2nd Race stint was decided by Engineers on his side of the garage. They did NOT manage to find the optimal balance for him like Antonelli's Engineers did, leaving George to fend off with an Understeery car. (He still, however, managed to gain on Hamilton.) 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴, 𝘀𝗼 𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 on radio how he wanted it changed: by "point 3". He even offered a precise value. However, 𝙈𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙝𝙤𝙬 "𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙙𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙" 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙪𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 "𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙙𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙜𝙪𝙣" at his 2nd pitstop. Russell had 𝙐𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙧 in his 2nd stint, which lasted 24/66 laps. In his 3rd stint, he got a "𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮, 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙊𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚" that "certainly compromised his pace in the final stages." And he had to manage this setup for the remaining 30/66 laps of the race. When Antonelli emerged from the pits with a primely balanced car, Russell only had a 2 seconds advantage on him. He still managed to hold his teammate off for 𝟮𝟯 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝗽𝘀. In the last 6 consecutive races, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐰𝐚𝐬.

@kenshinisalive @kutim107 Hamilton's second stint was on Hards! His tyre strategy was Soft-Hard-Medium-Hard So where Hamilton's and Russell's second stints overlapped, the two of them were on the same tyre compounds. Russell did have the benefit of clean air. However, he was also managing an understeer.

@uruptosmth @kutim107 tbf, by the time Hamilton made his pit, my assumption for that is that his medium had degraded from the hot stints that he pulled

At Miami, it seemed so certain Russell's pace cannot match his teammate's. That's what everyone believed - until the last few laps of the Race. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱? 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘱 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘐𝘔𝘗𝘙𝘖𝘝𝘌 getting longer into the stint - then 𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝗽 𝟱𝟯/𝟱𝟳, 𝗼𝗻 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝘆𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝟯𝟯 𝗟𝗔𝗣𝗦 𝗢𝗟𝗗, George Russell recorded the 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝗽 of his race. Faster than ANY of the 20 lap times he had with his Medium tyres. Anyone with a remote understanding of F1 would know: 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭. So how did he get faster all so suddenly, even with tyre degradation? Russell reveals in a post-race interview, "The hard tyre was just nowhere. I got some ideas, the last 10 laps were much more competitive, I made some quite big changes with my differentials and my brake bias. It was much closer to what Kimi has been running this whole weekend, which made a bigger impact than I thought." The worst part: his Engineers didn't seem to know why Russell was suddenly faster. At the end of the race, Marcus Dudley, Russell's Race Engineer, comments: "Good lap times there at the end." Russell replies: "Yeah, that was weird. I had changed some settings. Did some some great magic and it found a lot of lap time, so... Make sure you review that." This revelation likely prompted Russell to try the "bit of a copy-paste" of what was working for his teammate in the next couple of races. Alas, with different driving styles and more importantly, vastly different tracks, those settings didn't benefit him at all in Monaco. But back to main, a summary of what we learned from the Miami GP: Russell's pace throughout the weekend was not fast, no, but his pace could have been tremendously faster if his Engineers actually analyzed data and helped him change those differentials and brake bias (=brake balance). Preferably during Free Practice, but also any other time within the weekend, before Russell had to figure it out himself. So why is all of this relevant?

another CRITICAL side to the story: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗼 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗕𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗮 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶, 𝗮𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼, 𝘀𝗮𝘆, 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗰𝗼? Here's the answer: following Qualifying and bagging Pole Position on Saturday, Russell reveals in an interview: "I've not looked at a single piece of data the whole weekend, I've just driven the car and trusted my instincts." Why did he do so? Russell very honesty reflects, "Kimi was performing so well and I did a bit of a copy-paste of what was working for him and it wasn't working for me, so I was like, I need to trust my own gut here and something was telling me I needed to go my own direction, and I'm super glad I have." Russell was not wrong about trusting his own gut. At least not for the Soft and Medium tyres, which he had the opportunity to test and provide driver feedback on during Free Practices. However, when it came to the un-tested Hard tyres, "not look[ing] at a single piece of data" means he actually wasn't trusting his instincts, but rather entirely and blindly trusting his Engineers, particularly the Performance Engineer and the Race Engineer, to decide on his Hard tyres set-up for the Race. Wait, why is that a problem - aren't they supposed to be the experts? Oh and why was he copy-pasting his teammate's settings in the first place? Both questions can be answered simultaneously. Let's go a few weeks back, to the Miami GP. x.com/LucianoYoma/st…

Don't get me wrong here, Hamilton's race pace in his 3rd and 4th stints were truly legendary (look at those steep slopes!) But in his 2nd stint, Russell was arguably faster than him - the gap between the two drivers when Russell emerged from the pits were 1.4 seconds, but by the time Hamilton pitted for the second time, Russell was 3.0 seconds ahead of him.

@uruptosmth what gain from hamilton btw, nothing tbh

and again, evidence cannot be entirely conclusive without a footage of the rear left tyre. However, with Antonelli being on a tangential line to that point in T13, and comparing his position on the kerb to Lawson's, surely this at least needs a review from the Stewards. Sorry about the pixelated quality. A video clip might make things a bit clearer, I'll see if I can post it later.

@worldchamp44 oh I was not comparing the T10 violations to the T13 violation, sorry about the misunderstanding. I only brought up the Lap 10, T10 violation to make a point about how the FIA's AI "police" system wasn't working properly, leaving huge room for false negatives.

I have no dog in this fight but you need to prove that his rear was also entirely on that side of the line at the same time as the front if you want to prove that this is a track limits violation

@gasso_o no problem, plz feel free to use whatever you're comfortable with!

@uruptosmth Sry I forgot u are Korean , Because of its own translation, I neglected hahahaha. Next time I will use English.🫡

@gasso_o @deadTomhaas 当然啦

@uruptosmth @deadTomhaas 把这段话借我用用，我要发给那些人

𝐊𝐢𝐦𝐢 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝟓 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝟐𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 : the 5th infringement that the FIA official documents are still missing [Lap 30] Antonelli leaves track at Turn 13 (1x speed & 0.25x speed)

@gasso_o oh sorry bout the misunderstanding, my Chinese isn't great TT

@uruptosmth 哈哈哈 神秘其实是讽刺的意思，ok让我看看他的强大履历

@gasso_o 这不是个一位神秘的工程师，他叫 Katsu，你可以在mercedes account找到他的视频。it's not his first year as Russell's performance engineer, which makes it even worse🤦‍♀️

@uruptosmth 我建议你可以找一下这位神秘的工程师以及他的履历，或许是漠不关心自己的工作，或许真的是草台班子

@gasso_o I may literally be saving your reputation and career rn gimme a salary 😭 @/GeorgeRussell63 But like, seriously... I knew Russell's engineers were particularly incompetent this season, but discovering exactly HOW they were incompetent is making me furious😭😭😭

@uruptosmth 你现在是专业的私家侦探🕵️

@Holy_Molygr1 in Russell we #tRUSt his engineers, we #distRUSt ......

Yes, at first I thought the reason they put him on the softs so early was because they were worried about messing up his setup again before qualifying, so they wanted at least one reference run to compare against later (although other teams tested the softs as well). But I didn’t expect the problem this time to come from the hard tyre, which he hadn’t even tested before🥺

韩国姐我的神