Nico Rosberg contends that George Russell is currently fueled by a level of "insane motivation" comparable to the fire he felt when he finally overcame Lewis Hamilton after a series of defeats. Russell’s aspirations of clinching his first world championship this season are rapidly fading, as his teammate Kimi Antonelli – who has been in peak form – now enjoys an 81‑point advantage at the top of the drivers' standings.
Since taking victory at the season‑opening Australian Grand Prix in March, Russell, who entered the year as the pre‑season favourite, has managed to finish ahead of Antonelli only twice in the ten races they have both completed. The British driver watched the young Italian claim his seventh and eighth wins of the campaign during the back‑to‑back events at Monza and Madrid. After Sunday’s race, where Russell settled for fifth place, Rosberg was interviewed by Sky Sports F1 about his own comeback story – how he rebounded to win the 2016 championship after being soundly beaten by Hamilton the previous year. "I was driven a lot by the pain," Rosberg recalled.
"Subjectively, it was painful to keep losing against Lewis and that just drove an insane motivation. George will be in a similar situation. He will be so damn motivated at the moment to try and find improvements.
He'll be working so hard because I know George doesn't give up and he's hating the situation of getting beaten over and over by Kimi. He'll be working super hard but it's a bit of a difficult one because it's hard to understand where the pace has gone for him." Russell has been Mercedes' top‑scoring driver in three of his last four seasons with the team – twice out‑scoring his teammate Hamilton in 2022 and 2024, and once alongside rookie Antonelli in 2025. Yet with nine races remaining, a dramatic reversal is required if he hopes to return to the top of the leaderboard. Rosberg remains confident that Russell’s relentless work ethic will eventually produce a breakthrough with the W17 chassis, though he acknowledges that the 28‑year‑old is likely questioning himself as well.
"I'm very impressed with George's approach because he's a perfectionist and he tries to cover every aspect of his human performance," the former champion said. "I know he's doing everything he can, and I admire that. But, all the more, it's tough for him because he doesn't understand himself.
He's always been fast; he's always been at least level with his teammate and suddenly it's gone away from him there. It's really painful because you start to doubt yourself.
It doesn't matter how confident you are, it then comes to questioning 'am I not good enough? Was I better in the past and I'm just doing something wrong now?' It's really difficult." Fresh from being out‑paced by Antonelli at Monza – despite his teammate starting the race from a penalised 19th position on the grid and trailing by 66 points – Russell admitted ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix that he would need a dose of luck to keep his title hopes alive.
The deficit ballooned to a season‑high 81 points after a disappointing weekend in Madrid, where a problematic Q3 qualifying session and an early Virtual Safety Car hampered his performance. The result left Russell effectively out of the championship fight. Looking ahead to the upcoming races, beginning with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on 24‑26 September, Russell told F1: "Just keep pushing along. It has been a more positive couple of races even though the result was far from great today.
But it's kind of the story of the season. I just need to focus on the performance, keep trying to help the team.
We're obviously in a great place to win the constructors', realistically I'm not in the fight for the drivers', and that just allows me to focus on race‑by‑race and trying to get some good results." Mercedes remain convinced that Russell can rediscover his peak form. When asked what the British driver is battling most intensely at the moment, team principal Toto Wolff replied: "I don't know, because you can see the pace he had towards the end when he was catching Leclerc.
He was fastest out on track. But after the tyre changes, the pace wasn't there. I just don't know where it is and we have to analyse it, because clearly it's in him, it's in the car, and we just have to unlock it." Wolff is certain that even if this championship slips through his fingers, Russell will bounce back and remain a contender in future title battles. "When it comes to George, you can have good races, bad races, good years and bad years, but we're talking about a driver who has already won everything he could have potentially won before," Wolff noted, recalling Russell’s rapid rise through the junior ranks.
"Every single karting championship, Formula 3 in his rookie year, Formula 2 in his rookie year, then straight into Williams. I mean, we're talking about a top driver. We need to find out what it takes for him to unleash that potential.
And of course, there's the psychological side. If you have a run like him this year, you're taking a beating. But the great ones, they recover. And George has all he needs to fight for championships.
Even if that one has maybe sailed, there will be more." The F1 calendar now moves to a triple‑header weekend in Baku, with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix taking place on a Saturday. Fans can follow the action live on Sky Sports F1, streaming via NOW with a flexible, no‑contract subscription.
The race will be a crucial test of whether Russell can extract any remaining performance from his car and prove that his determination can still translate into points, even if the championship title remains out of reach.