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The 2026 summer break could not have come sooner for George Russell as his title hopes slip away. He will be desperate to fix his problems, and Adrian Newey has the blueprint.
Luck has certainly not been on the Brit’s side in 2026, with Mercedes’ reliability proving to be a huge issue. Russell struggled with battery deployment at Spa before being taken out by Lewis Hamilton, and his car went into anti-stall on the grid in Budapest, leaving him to finish P7.
With six points scored in the last two races, Russell is now 59 points behind teammate Kimi Antonelli heading into the summer break. His dejected look in the media pen suggests he is a man without answers, but he could take inspiration from F1’s backmarkers.
Here’s how the F1 championship looks at the summer break. Predict the top five at the end of the season 👇
George Russell needs to adopt Adrian Newey’s approach by not setting goals and focusing on himself
The pressure of fighting for the world championship is clearly getting to the 28-year-old. After all, he was backed as the favourite, given the rumours around Mercedes’ power unit, but now, he is being dominated by Antonelli.
The Italian has had his teammate beaten on pure pace and seems better equipped to combat Mercedes’ problems. Russell says he wants to drive Antonelli’s car, but the performance of the W17 or his teammate is not something he can control.
Russell seems too fixed on what is happening around him instead of himself and what he could do. That is the exact approach that Newey has at Aston Martin as he tries to fix their nightmare start to the season.
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Aston Martin’s upgrades in Hungary were successful in bringing the team away from the back row, which they seemed glued to, and towards the midfield. There is still a long way to go, of course, but Newey is not setting any expectations.
He said via F1.com in Hungary: “I’ve never been a fan of setting goals. I’m much more a fan of working logically through problems, getting everybody working together, getting the culture together, and at that point, you end up where you end up.
“What I have found over the years is, when you’re not winning, it seems an impossible mountain to climb, and when you are winning, sometimes you’re not sure how you got there, because you’re not actually doing anything differently, or you don’t feel as if you’re doing anything differently.”
Asked if their nightmare will end, he replied: “Hopefully! These first races have been a complete nightmare. Hopefully we can get at least to a point of respectability now – I think that’s the immediate goal. Then from there, we can try to keep moving forwards.”
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Newey has no goals, no expectations and no end targets- he merely wants to go faster. He is taking any sort of pressure away from Aston Martin and is only focused on their surroundings and what they can do, and that is the key for Russell.
The Mercedes driver is clearly not someone who can handle pressure. Therefore, by taking a step back, freeing himself of that pressure and worrying only about himself, it could be just what he needs to get back in the title fight.
59 points is not impossible to cut down, as Max Verstappen proved last year. But Russell will not get anywhere in 2026 by constantly worrying about Antonelli or the car – ultimately, it is only him that he can work on to get his championship challenge back on.
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