'I’m not in the fight for the drivers’ – Russell concedes doubts over title challenge after Antonelli's Madrid win

George Russell appeared to rule himself out of the fight for the Drivers' Championship after Kimi Antonelli claimed his eighth win of the 2026 season in Madrid.

The Briton fell short of his team mate's result again, finishing in P5 in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix, as the result leaves him 81 points behind in the standings.

After a strong start to the Spanish Grand Prix weekend for the Briton, who topped the first practice session, that was as good as it got as he went on to qualify in P6 and was left questioning his pit stop strategy as Sunday's race unfolded.

After coming home in fifth at the Madring, as his team mate backed up last weekend's heroic home win in Monza with another, Russell appeared to rule himself out of being in contention for this year's title amid Antonelli's form.

"We’re obviously in a great place to win the constructors’," he said. "Realistically, I’m not in the fight for the drivers’, and that just allows me to focus race by race and try to get some good results."

Before the weekend began, the Briton had remarked that Antonelli "had done a better job" but had insinuated he was still in the title fight, though he acknowledged he would need elements of luck to claw back the deficit.

However, that luck didn't materialise during Sunday's Grand Prix as Mercedes opted to pit Russell twice - firstly for a new set of mediums during the Virtual Safety Car and then again onto the hard tyre - when the majority of other teams went for a one-stop strategy.

On the radio Russell asked his Race Engineer Marcus Dudley why they had decided to pit, saying he could have held off Lando Norris behind him. But afterwards, the Briton appeared to have his answers to the strategy call.

"In the moment I was questioning, but the hard tyre was the superior tyre," he acknowledged. "Maybe I could have stayed out with Leclerc, but I would have still finished behind him. Maybe I could have not pitted onto the hard again at the end. But everything I would have done brought us back to the same position, purely because you can’t overtake on this track, so that’s a shame."

Once the favourite to come out on top this season, Russell now heads to Baku with only two Grand Prix wins under his belt in 2026.

He is still in second position in the Drivers' Championship but with seemingly a different mindset that, whilst he is no longer challenging for the individual title, he's keen to make sure the team take home the Constructors' Championship this year.

"It has been a more positive couple of races, even though the result was far from great today," he said. "But it’s kind of the story of the season. I just need to focus on the performance, keep trying to help the team. You know, we’re obviously in a great place to win the Constructors’."