{"id":37888,"date":"2025-11-05T04:17:59","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T09:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=37888"},"modified":"2025-11-05T04:17:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T09:17:59","slug":"george-russell-expects-antonelli-to-make-step-forward-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/11\/05\/george-russell-expects-antonelli-to-make-step-forward-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"George Russell expects Antonelli to make step forward in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

George Russell<\/a> successfully emerged from extensive contract negotiations with Mercedes last month, finalising an agreement to continue at the Silver Arrows.<\/p>\n

The British driver’s new deal consists of a performance clause which, if activated, keeps him at Mercedes until 2027. This was a big victory for Russell, whose main objective was so have some safeguards to protect against Max Verstappen’s links with Mercedes.<\/p>\n

In the background of these talks was Kimi Antonelli<\/a>, whose contract was agreed upon some time ago. It was Russell’s negotiations that postponed the 18-year-old’s new deal from being announced.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Antonelli’s place at Mercedes is of immense importance – and his performance next year could have a big impact.<\/p>\n

\"\"
British Grand Prix, Sunday, Richard Pardon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Russell forecasts Antonelli’s trajectory for second F1 campaign<\/h2>\n

To a large extent, George Russell has cemented his position as team leader at Mercedes. The doubts about his contract extension with Mercedes were almost exclusively a consequence of Max Verstappen’s availability.<\/p>\n

Were it not for the Dutchman’s uncertain future at Red Bull<\/a>, Russell is likely to have secured a multi-year deal with relative ease. In this sense, the 5-time race winner can rightfully be frustrated that he was initially sidelined in contract negotiations.<\/p>\n

Going beyond the 27-year-old’s discussions with Mercedes, Kimi Antonelli is at the centre of the team’s long-term plans.<\/p>\n

The Italian’s journey to Formula 1 was accelerated by Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari, which caught Toto Wolff<\/a> by surprise and catalysed Antonelli’s promotion.<\/p>\n

As a rookie that was racing in Formula 4 just two years ago, 2025 has been a huge learning curve for Antonelli. In many respects, the 18-year-old has been thrown into the deep end and given an immensely difficult challenge.<\/p>\n

Because of this, his increasingly consistent performances since the summer break have been welcomed at Mercedes. There is a growing expectation that Antonelli can progress further in 2026 with the new generation of cars.<\/p>\n

George Russell agrees with this sentiment, and anticipates a greater challenge from his teammate next year:<\/p>\n

“Kimi has clearly shown signs of great talent and speed behind the wheel of an F1 car,” he told Nextgen-auto<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

“For any rookie, it’s naturally difficult to consistently demonstrate that speed, but he did very well considering he started in a top team.<\/em><\/p>\n

“I expect these impressive displays of speed to be more regular in 2026. We’ve seen other drivers on the grid make a big step forward from one year to the next. He’ll definitely be closer to me.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, Sunday – LAT Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mercedes firmly in the fight for second<\/h4>\n

In some ways, the next few weeks are a formality for Mercedes. Both Championships are beyond reach, meaning that nailing the 2026 regulations are of even greater importance.<\/p>\n

The Brackley-based squad have invested massively into their engine development, which is why the German constructor is predicted to have the best power unit next season. Of course, Mercedes are no strangers to winning titles thanks to a first class engine.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Mercedes are still firmly in the fight for second in the constructors. Only a few points separate the Silver Arrows from Ferrari<\/a> and Red Bull, with performance varying from circuit to circuit.<\/p>\n

This means, starting from this weekend, Toto Wolff’s team look to end the season strongly and secure the runner-up spot.<\/p>\n

Main photo: Mercedes media gallery<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George Russell successfully emerged from extensive contract negotiations with Mercedes last month, finalising an agreement to continue at the Silver Arrows. The British driver’s new deal consists of a performance clause which, if activated, keeps him at Mercedes until 2027. This was a big victory for Russell, whose main objective was so have some safeguards […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":37890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,2277,121,2411],"class_list":["post-37888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-kimi-antonelli","tag-mercedes","tag-russell"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37892,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37888\/revisions\/37892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}