Racing
© Liauzh
Claire Williams believes George Russell’s Formula 1 title chances are being damaged by a run of bad luck that could stop him turning his talent into a championship, even as Kimi Antonelli surges ahead inside Mercedes.
Speaking on the High Performance Racing podcast, the former Williams deputy team principal said she began 2026 convinced “it was going to be George’s year,” only to see the season swing against him on two fronts. Antonelli has won five of the first seven grands prix and emerged as Mercedes’ championship leader, while Russell has been hit by a string of setbacks that Williams thinks go beyond simple execution.
“I think he’s just had a bit of bad luck,” Williams said. “And I worry that sometimes bad luck sticks to people. I really don’t want it to stick on George because he deserves a title. I think he deserves it. He’s earned one.”
Williams said she had “underestimated Kimi” and that “quite a few people underestimated Kimi at the start of the year,” a misread that has only sharpened the contrast with Russell’s campaign. Instead of leading Mercedes’ challenge, Russell has watched his team-mate become the standout contender.
The setbacks have piled up across the season. The summaries describe car issues in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, strategy disruption caused by an untimely safety car in Japan, a retirement from the lead in Canada because of Mercedes machinery trouble, a Monaco penalty that dropped him out of the points, and a power loss in Barcelona that left him unable to fight for victory.
Williams framed that pattern through her own experience of how races can turn on circumstance as much as speed. She said that when events became a “lottery” because of rain or a safety car, Williams “invariably never benefited from those lucky moments in the sport,” adding that “that wasn’t because we got the strategy wrong or we made a mistake.”
That is why her concern for Russell goes beyond a few lost results. With Antonelli now 50 points ahead in the Mercedes battle, the cost of Russell’s misfortune is already visible in the championship fight, and Williams’ point is that talent alone may not be enough to recover if the season keeps breaking the wrong way.