Mercedes considers plan to help George Russell beat Max Verstappen in F1 runner-up battle

Mercedes will go “full blast” to help George Russell secure runner-up spot in the 2026 Formula 1 world championship. 

A week after Andrea Kimi Antonelli clinched the drivers’ title in Mexico, Mercedes wrapped up the constructors’ championship at a rain-affected Sao Paulo Grand Prix. 

That was a scrappy race from both Russell and Antonelli who came home fourth and fifth, marking the first race this season that at least one Mercedes driver has failed to finish on the podium. 

A dreadful run of results has seen Russell slip from P2 in the championship down to third, with the Briton just one point clear of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and 17 behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen with three races remaining. 

With both world championships now settled, Mercedes is considering how it can help boost Russell’s bid to overhaul Verstappen and lock out the top two spots in the drivers’ standings. 

“I haven't thought about the drivers' championship yet,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said after Sunday’s race in Brazil. 

“We absolutely want him to score the maximum and hopefully finish second, and we need to think about what we're going to do about it, but it could be a possibility that we're giving it all the force.”

Wolff added: “It's George's championship today, it's the constructors’ championship, and he's part of the team – and I'm really happy that he can cherish this moment, because we owe it to him.

“You know, he had it so tough at times, and yesterday was a good example. He was absolutely dominating the wet qualifying, he should have been on pole easily, and then this last lap took away his pole position.

“Now we have three races to go. We're going to, like I said, go full blast, and he will recover, I have no doubt about that for next year. All the very best sportspeople have gone through difficult periods, and that's going to be part of his continued development.”

A costly spin while exiting the pit lane meant Russell just missed out on the podium in Brazil. 

"An incredible achievement from everyone in the team. We had four tough years, and to come through and take the championship is really, really great,” Russell said. 

"Obviously, it was a bit of an up-and-down race. I have no idea what happened on that pit exit. I probably just took too much risk, because I was seeing an opportunity to go for the win at that point, but it happened.

"Ironically, because that happened, I then didn’t pit for another set of slick tyres, and it kind of put me back in the same position as I was before the incident. The most important [thing] is we got the championship sealed."