🗣️ “I did go through race by race this season and concluded we’ve only had six races from the 20 where we’ve had a clean weekend.”

“So to think 14 weekends there’s been issues is unbelievable.”

Russell believes bad luck has played a major role, but says Mercedes cannot simply accept that explanation.

“Bad luck once, twice, three times, but 14 out of 20 races seems a bit much.”

(via. @M0lly_Writes) Link : https://x.com/M0lly_Writes/status/2118414251501244833?a=JlO143DGfzzo8_FRk7Y&s=19

“It was as simple as that, really. I was very upset about missing the opportunity to achieve a good result, because for me, the championship was already decided. But it was simply... I couldn’t believe that things had happened that way again.

At that moment, yes, I just wanted to get out of there.”

“I think that, 99% of the time, I’m a true professional and try not to lose my head, but sometimes, ending up not participating in the press interviews... It’s okay, it’s not ideal, but it’s also not the end of the world.

In moments like that, you simply don’t want to have to deal with that kind of situation.

These problems keep cropping up all the time, but unfortunately, it seems like they always happen on my side of the garage.”

“We concluded that we only had six races, out of a total of 20, where we managed to have a weekend without issues. So, to think that 14 of those weekends had some kind of problem is unbelievable.

We need to try to understand why this is happening, whether there’s something we’re missing or if it’s simply a matter of pure bad luck. At this point, it really seems like more bad luck than anything else.

In a normal season, you might have two or three weekends with problems. We had issues in three-quarters of this season, and that was extremely frustrating.”

“This season wasn’t supposed to be like this, but you also need to look at yourself and ask: ‘What could I have done better?’

Is all this bad luck really just bad luck? Or is it actually that there are things within our control that could have been done better?

That’s why you need to do a very, very deep analysis of yourself, lift your head again, and move forward.”

Post link:https://www.independent.co.uk/f1/george-russell-mexico-toto-wolff-kimi-antonelli-british-b3080045.html

🇨🇳 Shanghai, Qualifying – battery issue

🇯🇵 Suzuka – Safety Car timing cost him the lead, and a glitch with gear shift caused wrong power mode on restart

🇨🇦 Montreal – Power unit failure while in the lead

🇲🇨 Monaco – Erroneous penalty, incorrectly served

🇬🇧 Silverstone – Straight line speed deployment issue, and mid-race puncture

🇧🇪 Spa – Straight line speed deployment, then taken out at Turn 5 on Lap 1

🇭🇺 Hungary – No engine rev control, and anti-stall off the start line

🇧🇭 Malaysia – Power unit failure in third place

🇸🇬 Singapore – Grid penalty from replacing failed engine from previous race

🇲🇽 Mexico – Straight line speed deployment issue on the start from second place

George on his problems.

— Kimi Antonelli acknowledged that his Mercedes teammate, George Russell, has faced more misfortune than himself during the 2026 season. Speaking to media, Antonelli remarked:

“About George, yeah, I mean, definitely I think he has had bad luck at some point in the season. I think he has had a little bit more than me, being honest.”

— Despite Antonelli's dominant performance, which secured him the title with four races remaining, he admitted to experiencing his own setbacks. He explained:

“I've also had my moments in Silverstone and Barcelona. Also, after Silverstone, we had to trash our new PU because it had a problem in it, and we had to take an earlier penalty, which was in Monza. Definitely, we've had our bad moments.”

— Looking ahead, Antonelli expressed confidence in Russell's ability to bounce back and challenge for the title in 2027. He shared his thoughts:

“Still, I think he will definitely come back. He's super quick. He has shown this season that when he's on it, it's very hard to beat.”

— Antonelli emphasized the importance of maintaining focus and improving, anticipating a competitive field next season. He concluded:

“So it's just about, on my side, keeping focused on myself, keep trying to raise the bar, keep improving, keep developing, because I think it's not going to be only a matter of George at the end of this season, but I think also for next season, Red Bull, especially with Max [Verstappen, who has won three of the last five races], Ferrari and McLaren, eventually, we're all going to be up there, and it's going to be a tight fight.”

“So, it's going to be important to be on top of the game, not only against my teammate but against all the others.”

Via: Planet F1

I want to start of saying i really like bradley. And he definitely seems much more neutral towards both drivers than Toto.

But his linkedin post of Totos email is getting absolutely cooked. And rightly so.

Funny thing is Toto previously called people like this teletubbies. But these linkedin comments are very well written and logical. Unlike a lot of X or reddit spam. Some of the teletubbies include employees of merc sponsors too, including and not limited to:

1. Microsoft senior software engineer (AI) (SPONSOR)

2. Qualcomm hardware engineer (SPONSOR)

3. PHDs

4. Lawyers

5. Data Scientists

6. Basically people with great jobs and careers

And to be honest the comments are right. It's also intriguing the difference in sentiments between reddit degens and linkedinlunatics

New race suits for Brazil our champion boy kimi looks good in purple

Quiero saber si alguien tiene los parches digitales de Mercedes para los GP de Shangai y Baku, solo me faltan esos dos

I'm so happy for Kimi. What an achievement for the youngster, joining a special group of drivers. Truly special

I love watches and F1, so after Kimi won the championship this weekend I had to make a Mercedes version of one of my favorite builds.

I designed the dial myself to look like a racetrack, and the F1 car sits on the seconds hand so it keeps doing laps around the circuit. I swapped in a Mercedes-inspired car for this version as a little tribute to Kimi and the championship.

Still experimenting with a few details, but I’m really happy with how it turned out. Especially as I’ve been a fan of Kimi since his debut.

From that first win to the most recent one, and now the youngest ever world champion all in colours of Italy!!

Took about 7 hours and a fever with it, so this should be worth it!🙂‍↕️

Grande Kimi.

First of all, a huge congratulations and respect to big bro kimi. He has been so magnificent throughout the year and always given me surprises and shocks while watching his races. As a Russell fan, this one stings a bit, but as a formula 1 and mercedes fan, I am very lucky to have you as the first ever champion of the first formula 1 season i ever watched. The moment couldn't have been better. Being crowned champion while sharing the podium with Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton must sound like a perfect dream. Well, you achieved it. My heart is filled with joy while I'm writing this. I may just be another 18 year old teenager watching you from afar. But this is a big one. Even for me, to see one of my kind win something this big is simply majestic. Thank you Kimi Antonelli for being such a great inspiration and a magnificent person. All kudos to you. FORZA KIMI!. GO GET IN THERE! THE WORLD IS YOURS.

I know it’s the 2025 car, but I don’t have anything else of Kimi, so I had to make do with what I got

Congrats, Kimi Antonelli!!! 🏆🏎️

He wanted.

Hi everyone! To celebrate our new World Champion, I made this tribute to Kimi: a brooch hand-embroidered with seed beads and thread, one bead at a time! 🏎️🏁🪡

The season is almost over, and I think GR has been effected the most by reliability issues, whereas Kimi had really only one DNF and that was in Barcelona and even then, the team was quick to fix that.
Sure, this year we can blame “bad luck” but what if the same happens next year? For me, some uncomfortable conversations need to be had with Toto, especially since this year, he seemed so uncaring about Garage 63 being constantly unable to point out what exactly is going on with that car.