George Russell has never endured a season this poor. After eight years in Formula 1, he finds himself struggling just when Mercedes finally hands him a title-contending car. At Madring, he finished fifth, half a minute behind his teammate, Kimi Antonelli, who won the race. Qualifying summed it up: in the first two sectors, Russell was just 0.1s off Antonelli, but in the final sector he lost an additional two tenths. His rear tyres overheated through the repeated 90-degree turns of sector three, a consequence of how he had used them earlier in the lap.
The 2026 season is indeed strange. Russell himself acknowledges an unusual pattern. "It's been a strange season when you look at the competitiveness of Oscar Piastri against Lando Norris last year, Charles Leclerc versus Lewis Hamilton, and even the dominance of Max Verstappen against all of his teammates in the previous era," he said. "This year myself, Charles, Oscar are struggling much more compared to our teammates. And Max, his teammates have been substantially closer to him than anybody has in the last six years, and I think we've all got pretty similar driving styles. The drivers performing very well this year – Kimi, Lewis, Lando – have got quite similar driving styles. So to me it's pretty clear with this car, with these tyres, the trends are there."
There is almost certainly a causal relationship between these cars/tyres and the struggles of Russell and Piastri. They each tend to drive to a geometric ideal: late turn-in with a positively abrupt initial turn of the wheel, relying more on that steering than weight manipulation for rotation into the turn, and using very little overlap between braking and cornering. It can work brilliantly well on a high-grip track in a car with a lot of downforce, but not as well as the grip reduces.
The reduced downforce and tyre grip of the 2026 cars has raised the crossover point of circuit grip at which that technique begins to be problematic – i.e., with these cars there are more circuits than before which don't really sync very well with that technique. Furthermore, the penalty of that is compounded in these cars by the demands of energy management. The less momentum you can maintain on entry, the more in-fills the battery makes, meaning the deployment doesn't last as long on the straights. Russell and Piastri have both struggled in places with this.
But the equivalence Russell makes breaks down when comparing Verstappen and Leclerc, who each have their own styles unrelated to each other's. Charles Leclerc, for instance, is known for a more aggressive braking style, while Verstappen possesses an extraordinary ability to control rotation with brakes and throttle. These differences show that adapting to the 2026 car is not just about driving style, but also about reading and adjusting to new technical characteristics.
For Russell, this challenge is a mental and technical test. He must find a way to alter his approach, perhaps by relying more on weight manipulation or reducing the abruptness of his initial steering. Mercedes also needs to help with a set-up more suited to his natural style. Meanwhile, Piastri at McLaren faces a similar situation, and the duo are under scrutiny as potential future champions. If they don't adapt soon, the 2026 season could become a stage for drivers like Antonelli, Norris, and Hamilton to dominate.
With half the season still to go, the opportunity to turn things around remains open. However, time keeps ticking, and every race is a valuable lesson. Can Russell and Piastri overcome this mismatch? Only the track will answer.
Baca Juga
Collin Veijer absen di sisa GP Austria 2026 setelah cedera tulang selangka di FP1. Ia akan dioperasi di Barcelona oleh Dr. Xavier Mir.
F1 2027 resmi menggelar sprint race di Melbourne dan Monako. Analisis dampak, harga tiket, dan persiapan tim jelang musim baru.
George Russell dan Oscar Piastri kesulitan di F1 2026 karena gaya mengemudi tidak cocok dengan mobil dan ban generasi baru. Simak analisisnya.
Lanjutkan dengan Google
Diskusi & Komentar (0)
Mari Bergabung dalam Diskusi!
Masuk dengan mudah untuk mulai memberikan komentar, membalas, dan berinteraksi dengan pembaca lainnya.
Komentar Terbaru
Belum ada komentar. Jadilah yang pertama!