Wolff reveals Russell 'found it difficult to cope' with Antonelli's 2026 rise
Wolff opens up on Russell's mental battle with teenage team-mate
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has revealed that George Russell "found it difficult to cope" with the emergence of team-mate Kimi Antonelli earlier in the 2026 Formula 1 season, as the 20-year-old Italian stunned his more experienced British partner with a run of five consecutive wins.
Russell, 28, went into the 2026 campaign as the favourite for the Drivers' Championship, but Antonelli immediately overturned expectations by winning five straight races in the opening quarter of the year. An engine failure at May's Canadian Grand Prix compounded Russell's struggles, leaving him on the podium just twice before the August summer break.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle in an interview set to air on Sunday morning ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, Wolff described the emotional toll on his lead driver.
"He gets down. He's someone that's very emotional in a different way to an Italian driver as an example," Wolff said. "He gets down and it's difficult to cope, particularly when you have a 19-year-old coming into the team and it looks so easy.
"Kimi is a natural that is able to capture an audience and then this is the season you have to deliver [if you are Russell] - you are the candidate for winning the championship. Suddenly things are different. Your team-mate is so competitive, which you kind of, rationally get but it came as a surprise how competitive he was.
"I think George is in a place where that is the situation. He has a 20-year-old teammate that is one of the best rookies that has ever been. He needs to fight him to beat him. I think he has now settled into this reality of 'this is going to be really hard because he's so good'. That I think we kind of figured out together."
Wolff said Russell was in "rocket mode" at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where he took a lights-to-flag victory last time out in Baku. Russell's recovery has been gradual. On September 20, following a difficult Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid where he suffered high tyre degradation, reporting indicated he had fallen 81 points behind Antonelli. His win in Baku has since reduced that gap to 66 points ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix.
Mercedes chief insists he will not favour either driver
A Mercedes driver is almost certain to claim the Drivers' Championship for the first time since Lewis Hamilton's record-equalling seventh world title in 2020. Wolff, who managed the fierce rivalry between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg between 2013 and 2016, said his experience helps him navigate the current dynamic.
"I'm 10 years older with 10 years more experience, with a different line-up. Today we have two proper Mercedes juniors," he said. "George has been with us since he was 17, Kimi since he was 11. That's very different to Nico and Lewis that joined the team pretty much before I did, so the difference is to really leave no situation not discussed.
"What is it we're going to do if that happens? What are we going to do if that doesn't happen? While acknowledging, at the same time that as a team, we can't control everything. The moment the lights go green, they drive the car, but we do what we want to do it in the best possible way for themselves and for the team. Fundamentally, it's all about talking through the scenarios before."
When asked by Brundle whether it would be commercially beneficial for the Italian to win, Wolff was unequivocal about neutrality.
"It's a difficult one to say because obviously I need to look after the interest of the team and the interests of the team and its philosophy depends on how we are running this. What is the mindset that we're having here? I can never, and the team would never, favour a driver. First, how would you even technically do it?
"But the point is, if I do that, I would lose my own conscience in this. We've never brought an upgrade before the other guy had it didn't over the last 10 or more years. They are both given same opportunity. May the best man win.
"If it's George it is a story to George Russell won his first championship. If it's Kimi then it's a different story. It's this amazing super kid that won his first championship."
Formula 1 returns to Malaysia for the first time since 2017 as Sepang International Circuit hosts the Bahrain Grand Prix, with lights out on Sunday at 8am UK time (build-up from 6.30am), live on Sky Sports F1.