George Russell slated over 'entitled' F1 championship claim

George Russell has been heavily criticised after ‘entitled’ comments resurface amid his Formula 1 title battle with Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli.

Russell began the 2026 F1 campaign as the title favourite, but has since been usurped in the betting by Antonelli, after the Italian’s streak of three consecutive grand prix victories.

Following the Miami Grand Prix, comments made by Russell last year have resurfaced, with the Briton telling The Athletic: “There was once a time that if you finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton in a championship or in a race, you’d win the race. Or, if you’d finish ahead of the championship, you’d win the championship.

“If my time was five years prior, you could argue I’d have two championships in my name.”

Although the comments were based on Russell outperforming Hamilton in two of the three years the pair spent together as team-mates, commentator Will Buxton was less than impressed.

“I saw a quote out of him today, saying that ‘If I’d got to Formula 1 five years earlier, I’d probably have a couple of championships by now’, and I fear a level of entitlement there, that he thinks it should naturally be his, or he is starting to feel that maybe Kimi has come in and overtaken him in pure performance, so there’s that frustration in him of ‘I should already have been the champ’,” said Buxton.

Asked what he believes Russell meant by these comments, Buxton elaborated: “I think he means that if he had been with Mercedes during its glory days in the late 2010s, because he beat Lewis when they were team-mates, maybe he might have beaten Lewis.”

While co-host Naomi Schiff added that the comments “might come back to bite him on the arse”, Buxton played out the hypothetical scenario that Russell would have faced had he arrived in Formula 1 those five years earlier.

The conclusion, as per Buxton’s assessment, does not end favourably for the Briton.

“If he had arrived in F1 in 2014, he wouldn’t have got a seat at Williams, like he did in 2019, because they had [Felipe] Massa and [Valtteri] Bottas, and George isn’t outperforming either one of them.

“Which leaves probably a seat at Marussia or Caterham. He wouldn’t have got the seat at Marussia because that was [Jules] Bianchi, who was a Ferrari junior. Alexander Rossi was waiting in the wings for the other seat, Max Chilton was paying for that, and I don’t think George had Max Chilton’s money.

“Which puts him in a Caterham. So he probably gets half a season, if that. He’s definitely not gliding into a Mercedes seat at that time, because you’re not beating Hamilton at his peak or [Nico] Rosberg.

“So a couple of championships from where? Because he wouldn’t have won them in Formula E, because [Sebastian] Buemi would have absolutely destroyed him, and [Jean-Eric] Vergne would have destroyed him at their peak.

“So he gets what? Lucky if he gets an LMP2 title, maybe a couple of GT titles.

“I just don’t like that level of entitlement.”