Kimi Antonelli’s early F1 title charge labelled wake-up call for George Russell

Formula 1 commentator Alex Jacques has argued that George Russell has been given a wake-up call by his young Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli. 

Heading into the 2026 season, Russell had been pinned as the favourite for the drivers' title by many. And while he still is, Antonelli has firmly put his hat in the ring after taking the lead in the standings following back-to-back wins at the Chinese and Japanese Grands Prix. 

While discussing the state of play of the championship after the opening three rounds of the season in an F1 season-start debrief video, Jacques argued that many had underestimated Antonelli's 2025 performance.

"George is the favourite, he remains the favourite. He's got a lot of experience, got a lot of know-how in the team. He's been a little bit unlucky," he explained.

"I think that everyone was ignoring how good Kimi was at the end of last year. His drive in Vegas was ridiculously good. Had a couple of McLaren disqualifications, but his race pace to come through the field from the back. Very, very good. Outraced George Russell in Brazil. Held off Max Verstappen to the line. Overall, in the final five races, he beats him three times.

"Key in there for me, is George Russell has won in Vegas. He's won in Brazil. These are two tracks, and George still has up and down tracks of which I think Japan is potentially at the lower end of the George Russell performance of circuits, but at the end of last year, different regulations set, Kimi Antonelli's beating George Russell at circuits where George has won.

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Artur Widak / NurPhoto via Getty Images

"All right, end of the year, he's not a championship contender, will it continue? It has continued, so I think Antonelli was potentially at a slightly higher level at the end of last year than anyone gave him credit for, and I think it's been a wake-up call for George Russell.

"I think it could yet benefit George's season that Kimi has won early, and that there's no surprise run-through, and it is very reminiscent of what we saw Oscar [Piastri] do to Lando [Norris] at the start of last year."

As F1 heads to Florida for the Miami Grand Prix, Antonelli has a nine-point lead over Russell in the standings.