George Russell has blamed his "smooth" driving approach for the sizeable gap he finds himself in behind his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli at the Miami International Autodrome. The Italian, only 19, entered the weekend with a seven‑point lead in the Drivers’ Championship and secured a spectacular pole for Sunday’s Grand Prix, edging Russell by nearly four‑tenths of a second and leaving the Briton starting from fifth on the grid. The weekend’s pattern was clear from the start.
Antonelli claimed second place in the Sprint Qualifying on Friday while Russell could only manage sixth. In the Sprint race itself Antonelli recovered from a poor start to finish fourth on the road, four seconds ahead of Russell, but a five‑second penalty for repeatedly exceeding track limits dropped him to sixth, behind both Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after qualifying, Russell explained why the low‑grip circuits in Miami, Zandvoort and Brazil have been problematic for him: "I just struggle on these low‑grip circuits, so here [in Miami], Zandvoort, Brazil. It was the same last year.
It's something I want to work on but there are three tracks out of the 24 that are outliers, and Miami is definitely top of that list." He went on to describe his natural style: "I'm quite a smooth, precise driver. That's always been my style. On these tracks you have to be happy with the car just sliding.
I like the car on the edge, but this is like you have a set of 200‑lap old tyres on your car and you go around and it's just sliding, oversteer and understeer. That's the same for everyone.
It's so hot, the tyre pressures are high, the grip is really low, so it doesn't feel that pleasant, whereas tracks like Saudi the grip is super high." Russell’s comments come after a dramatic start to the 2026 season. He won the opening Australian Grand Prix from pole, but Antonelli answered with pole positions and victories in China and Japan, building a nine‑point lead before the calendar paused for five weeks when the Bahrain and Saudi rounds were cancelled. During that break, analysts highlighted the surprising fact that Russell, a pre‑season favourite for the title, was already trailing his much less experienced teammate after just three rounds.
In the Miami Sprint, Russell did cut the deficit, but only because Antonelli made an unforced error while holding a clear pace advantage. Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, Russell insisted he would not be thinking about "damage limitation" despite the start time being moved three hours earlier to 6 pm UK time because of an approaching thunderstorm. "I'm not thinking damage limitation," he said.
"I'm just going out there to maximise the result. That was the same in the Sprint.
Tomorrow is a different day with weather on the radar, and we saw again with the race starts, everything can change in the first few hundred metres." Sky Sports F1’s Naomi Schiff predicted that Russell would be "irritated" after finishing behind Antonelli for a third consecutive qualifying session. She explained, "The worst thing you see is your teammate making more of a gap, going out every session and being quicker than him. And regardless of whether it's a driving style thing or not, if he ends up in a head‑to‑head battle with his teammate, he's got to be better than him every time he goes out there.
It might swing around again, but obviously George is going to be irritated by that." Schiff added that Russell’s consistency will be his biggest asset over the long season, even if his outright pace is lacking this weekend: "George is a great driver and he's not going to love the situation, but it also is a long season ahead. He's got consistency on his side. He's obviously not got the pace this weekend, but he's always there, he's always going to score the points." Former world champion and Sky Sports pundit Jenson Button echoed the sentiment, noting the difficulty for a precision driver on a slippery surface: "When you're a precision driver, it's really difficult when you find yourself sliding into a corner and you can't pick out the apex as you want, or the exit.
And it's also worse here because there are other teams that are competitive. He's got the McLarens in front, he's got the Ferraris and Max in a Red Bull." Antonelli, who admitted to making too many mistakes in the Sprint, expressed satisfaction with the lap that earned him pole. His best effort came from his first of two flying laps in Q3; the second attempt was ruined by an error at the first corner. "It hasn't been easy this weekend – very hot, track very slippery, and also this track is not easy to put all the sectors together," he told Sky Sports F1.
"I think I was happy with my lap. Maybe there was a little bit more on the table, but we don't know because I didn't even do one corner. I'm happy with the performance, especially this weekend where with the others bringing big upgrades, it has been a bit more difficult for us, but the team did a tremendous job." The Miami event continues to be a focal point for the championship, with the F2 Feature Race slated for 2.25 pm, the GP build‑up at 4 pm, the Grand Prix itself at 6 pm, and post‑race analysis later in the evening. Fans can watch the action live on Sky Sports F1 or stream via NOW, with flexible contracts and the option to cancel at any time.
As the season resumes in Miami, the battle between Russell’s smooth precision and Antonelli’s aggressive adaptability will be a key storyline to follow.