An upgraded car and a 鈥減ainful鈥� reminder not to lose sight of the fundamentals could be George Russell’s path back to the front of the field at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Russell’s fourth place at the gave his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli a yawning 20-point lead in the standings after four races. The 19-year-old Italian has won three in a row.
Russell said one reason he lost ground was focusing too much on the standout feature of the 2026 cars, their massive , and neglecting the basics.
鈥淒ealing with the tires, dealing with the setup, just fundamentals of racing, has kind of been put on the back-burner because we鈥檙e all so focused on energy management,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e missed some key things because we were focused elsewhere and that was a good little reminder. As painful as it was, it was a very much-needed weekend because I think it鈥檚 going to prove very beneficial.鈥�
Antonelli’s lead grew in Miami because McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull brought upgrades that helped them fight for the podium places. Now it’s Mercedes’ turn to bring upgraded parts for the car that’s won all four Grand Prix races in 2026 so far.
Antonelli’s place in history
Canada offers the chance of a big points swing. It’s hosting a sprint race Saturday for the first time, putting another maximum eight points on offer.
The threat of rain in Montreal on Sunday would shake things up, too. After storms predicted for Miami never materialized, the 2026 cars have yet to race in wet weather.
It’s early to talk of the title at just the fifth round of the season but a fourth win in a row would put the 19-year-old Antonelli into an exclusive club. Every driver who’s won four or more consecutive Grands Prix has been an F1 champion at some point in their career.
History does offer a little encouragement to Russell, though. The one time in F1 history that a driver won four consecutive races in a season but not the title came in 2016 when Lewis Hamilton was beaten by his then-Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.
More recently, Oscar Piastri won three in a row for McLaren last year and still lost to teammate Lando Norris.
Another wave of engine changes
It’s a busy time to be an F1 engine manufacturer.
The , with electrical power turned down and less need to recharge batteries, got a , the biggest critic of the 2026 cars, who said it was 鈥渁lmost back to normal.鈥�
Meanwhile, the FIA is pushing to from 2030, and there’s more immediate change coming after this weekend.
Under a new-for-2026 rule, after the Canadian Grand Prix, the FIA will confirm some manufacturers will get extra development time and budget to improve their engines, but only if they’re a certain margin behind the best-performing engine, widely agreed to be Mercedes.
The scheme, known as ADUO, is meant to nudge F1 gently toward engine parity over the next few years and avoid what FIA rules guru Nikolas Tombazis last year 鈥渆ternal misery鈥� for teams who picked slower engines.
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