Toto Wolff has said George Russell‘s pace deficit against Andrea Kimi Antonelli at the Miami Grand Prix does not have “any relevance” to the 2026 Formula 1 title battle.
Russell struggled throughout the race weekend at the Miami International Autodrome in comparison to his 19-year-old team-mate.
The Briton crossed the chequered flag, after the 57-lap race, in fourth as Antonelli wrapped up a third consecutive win – sending the Italian 20 points clear of Russell at the top of the standings.
Antonelli now has exactly half the win tally of Russell (six) in only his second full-time season in F1.
And while the 19-year-old’s rise to the top of the sport has been meteoric, Wolff has refused to count out a “killer” Russell from title contention.
“I’ve always said George wouldn’t be a Grand Prix winner if he wasn’t a killer,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“These things, he analyses them, looks at the data, comes to his conclusions, and the conclusion is that he’s never been quite that easy with the track.”
Wolff pointed out that Russell was never really dialled into the inherent characteristics of the track at Miami, especially the smoothness of the tarmac.
He believes Russell will come back stronger in Canada, next time out. “He never liked the smooth surface, and that’s it,” Wolff added.
“Tick the box tomorrow. He’s looking forward to Montréal, and it’s 18 races to go, many points to score.”
Mercedes F1 deficit “no major cause for concern” says George Russell
Russell was the first to admit that his performance, last weekend, was not up to par.
That said, the 28-year-old revealed that he used the final laps of the race to make “drastic” experiments that did pay off for him, at least on a track like Miami.
“The pace was really poor my side,” Russell admitted.
“’I’ve got some ideas, to be honest, so I used the last sort of 20 laps to kind of test for myself, try out some quite drastic changes with my driving style and some of the differential and brake settings on my car, and it improved things – but I just can’t wait for the next race where it’ll be slightly more normal conditions.
“Yeah, no major cause for concern.”
Montreal has been a happy hunting ground for Russell in recent times. In 2024, he finished third, and backed that up with the race win last season.
Naturally, Russell would be keen to make a substantial dent in his team-mate’s championship advantage in two weeks’ time.