George Russell's 2026 F1 season: three wins, engine penalties and the chase to Abu Dhabi
Antonelli's closest rival has won in Melbourne, Austria and Baku, but engine trouble has cost him dearly.
George Russell is second in the 2026 drivers' championship on 238 points, 102 behind his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli with six races to go. He started the year as the man to beat and is still the driver with the best chance of taking the fight to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 6 December.
Russell won the opening race in Melbourne on 8 March from pole, finishing 2.974 seconds clear as Mercedes took a one-two in the first race of the new rules. Wikipedia's season record lists his second win in Austria in June, also from pole, and sprint wins in China, Canada and the Netherlands.
His third Grand Prix win of the year came in Baku in September. He converted pole into victory and held off Max Verstappen by 0.196 seconds, his eighth career win, and told reporters it was amazing to be back on the top step.
Engines have been his biggest problem. A power unit failure five laps from the end of a race he was running third in left Mercedes with no engines left from his allocation of four, and he started the Singapore Grand Prix from the back. Speaking to Reuters, he called it "just how the cookie crumbles" and said he expects one more penalty before the season ends.
Yas Marina has not been his strongest track. His first Abu Dhabi podium came in 2023, according to Lights Out, and last year he finished fifth. To take the title, he needs to outscore Antonelli by 103 points over the last six races.
Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix4 to 6 Dec · Yas Marina Circuit See ticketsSource: IOL (Reuters), Wikipedia: 2026 Formula One World Championship, Silverstone, The Express Tribune, TimesLIVE (Reuters), Lights Out, PlanetF1, Crash
