George Russell ‘wants to go head-to-head’ with Max Verstappen in 2026

Mercedes driver George Russell says his hope for the 2026 Formula 1 season is to find himself in a title fight with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Russell said he would «love for it to turn out that way» as he and Mercedes officially launched their new car on Monday.

The 27-year-old Briton added that he did not feel any more pressure as a result of his status as pre-season favourite.

«I do want to go head-to-head with Max and obviously Lando [Norris, McLaren’s world champion] had a great season last year but, no, it didn’t add any more pressure,» he said.

Russell has won five F1 races for Mercedes since joining the team in 2022 but, up until now, has not had a car consistently fast enough to challenge for a drivers’ championship.

F1 has made the biggest regulation change in its history over the winter, with the cars, engines, tyres and fuel all new heading into 2026.

Russell said that although the first test in Barcelona had gone well for Mercedes, he had been impressed by other teams, especially Red Bull, who are producing their first in-house engine in partnership with Ford for this season.

«Probably the fans and people were expecting potentially Mercedes versus McLaren because there was a lot of anticipation that Mercedes would clearly have the best power unit,» Russell said.

«But it seems like the other power-unit manufacturers have done a good job and we know that Red Bull have always had an amazing car. Even through the years of dominance of Mercedes, it was their engine that was letting them down not their car and we obviously know how good Max is. So I think he’s very much going to be in the fight this year and that is great.»

Russell and team boss Toto Wolff were downplaying expectations of Mercedes, saying it was impossible to know at this stage which team was the most competitive.

«It’s still very early days but, quoting Toto, it doesn’t look like it’s a turd, which is a bonus,» Russell said.

«In the early days like this, you know when it could be a really bad car and you can sort of highlight those negatives early on.

«We don’t believe it is, but is it a car that can produce a world championship? It’s still way too early to say.»

Wolff added: «We don’t have really a performance picture yet because we haven’t seen Max driving the car fast and we haven’t seen McLaren and Ferrari doing what they can do. So I would carefully refrain from saying that was great for us. We simply don’t know.»

Russell, who said he felt ready to fight for a title, was generally positive about the new generation of cars.

They are smaller and lighter than last year’s, while energy management is a much bigger factor in performance now that there is a 50-50 split between the power provided from the internal combustion engine and the hybrid system.

«The faster driver will be the one who still comes out on top. I don’t think it will be an engineering race from the cockpit,» said Russell, who is partnered by Italian Kimi Antonelli for a second season, while Dane Frederik Vesti has become Mercedes’ official third driver.

«Definitely still is Formula 1, it still very much feels like a race car and you’re still very much pushing the limits but you are driving it differently.»

Wolff added: «They look spectacular. They look like Formula 1 cars now again. They’re not too small, they’re not too big, they’re not like the whales of the past. The aesthetics are very good.

«And that is super-exciting, where and when and how a driver is going to deploy it and optimise that. We are going to see much more overtaking. We’re going to see it in areas that we wouldn’t expect it.»

Wolff dismissed allegations from other teams that Mercedes’ engine might fall foul of the rules.

Audi, Ferrari and Honda have complained to governing body the FIA because they believe Mercedes have found a loophole in the rule regarding compression ratio.

This must be a maximum of 16:1 and is measured in the garage at ambient temperature. The fear of Mercedes’ rivals is that the German manufacturer and Red Bull have found a way to use materials technology and thermal expansion to increase this when the car is running on track.

Wolff said: «I just don’t understand that some teams concentrate more on the others and keep arguing a case that is very clear and transparent.

«Communication with the FIA was very positive all along. And it’s not only on compression ratio, but on other things too. And specifically in that area, it’s very clear what the regulations say.

«Maybe you want to find excuses before you even start it why things are not good.

«Everybody needs to do it at the best of their ability. But that is really not how we would do things. Especially not after you’ve been told a few times that that is fine.

«It’s legal and it’s what the regulations say. But if somebody wants to entertain themselves by distraction, then everybody’s free to do this.»