Anthony Davidson shares why George Russell is ‘ready’ to win the F1 title in 2026

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Anthony Davidson feels George Russell is “ready” to win the F1 title after seeing how well he and Mercedes adapted to the 2026 regulations throughout testing in Bahrain.

The Silver Arrows will start the 2026 F1 season at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix with many backing the Brackley bunch to be the team to beat this year. Mercedes had long been tipped for success due to the new engine regulations, and they may still have more to show.

Ferrari racer Charles Leclerc and Juan Pablo Montoya have suggested that Mercedes hid the true performance of their 2026 car during testing, so as not to reveal the full power of their new engine. Yet many left Sakhir believing that the W17 is the best all-round F1 car in 2026.

As well as their new engine, built to the increased near 50/50 share between electrical and combustion power, Mercedes’ rear wing caught their F1 rivals’ attention at the Bahrain test. The rear wing was one of a handful of updates they revealed, along with a redesigned floor.

What do you expect from George Russell in the 2026 F1 season?

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Anthony Davidson believes George Russell showed in testing he’s ‘ready’ for an F1 title fight

Russell impressed Davidson with how he adapted to the 2026 F1 regulations during testing in Bahrain, with the new era of Formula 1 also ushering in cars that are lighter and smaller. Pirelli has also had to design smaller tyres after F1 opted to abandon the ground-effect era.

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As the Mercedes W17 also looks capable of being competitive most weekends, whereas the Silver Arrows’ ground-effect cars from 2022-2025 required specific conditions to fight at the front, Davidson is confident that Russell is ready to vie for the F1 drivers’ championship.

Davidson told Sky Sports: “I think he seems to have started off on the right footing. The car is quick enough to consistently be up there now, rather than the odd performance that was good enough, and he’s ready to win a world championship.”

Toto Wolff believes George Russell ‘deserves’ to be the 2026 F1 drivers’ title favourite

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Russell showed in the final year of F1’s latest ground-effect era in 2025 that he had taken his driving to new heights, as the 28-year-old stepped out of Lewis Hamilton’s shadow to be the new team leader at Mercedes alongside Andrea Kimi Antonelli during his rookie campaign.

The Briton scored 319 of Mercedes’ 469 points in 2025, to help the Silver Arrow seal second place in the F1 constructors’ standings by 18 points over Red Bull. Russell was also the only driver from a team other than McLaren and Red Bull to win a Grand Prix last year, with two.

Russell won the Canadian Grand Prix and Singapore Grand Prix in 2025, both also from pole position. Now, Mercedes go into 2026 as the favourite team under the new regulations and Russell is the favourite for the drivers’ title, which team boss Toto Wolff feels he “deserves”.

“It’s always nice if your driver is the favourite for the bookmakers, and I think he deserves it because he’s one of the best,” Wolff said, via quotes by BBC Sport.

“He’s shown us where the performance of the car is, and it’s been overall more than great to us. George has been in Formula 1 a long time. He’s a benchmark.”