F1 fans think Mercedes are deliberately ignoring George Russell after Barcelona social media posts

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Formula 1 fans are starting to question Mercedes’ treatment of George Russell after he was omitted from their post-race recap from Barcelona on social media.

The Brit is having a tough time in 2026, with teammate Kimi Antonelli clearly being the lead driver at Mercedes. Winning five races in a row between China and Monaco, he is now 50 points ahead of Russell, who has slipped to P3 behind Lewis Hamilton.

He closed the gap to Antonelli at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, but he is still nowhere near where he wanted to be, or was expected to be. David Coulthard worries that Russell is in a lonely place at Mercedes, and that is now starting to play out.

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F1 fans slam Mercedes’ ‘comical’ treatment of George Russell after leaving him out of social media posts

Russell finished second in Barcelona, grabbing a podium on what was his 100th race for Mercedes. Yet, despite this achievement, the Silver Arrows did not seem to celebrate it.

On LinkedIn, Mercedes offered their congratulations to former driver Hamilton after winning his first race for Ferrari and assessed Antonelli’s DNF. However, Russell did not even get a mention.

It was not just that Russell was omitted from, as on Mercedes’ YouTube community tab, the Brit featured in only one of the team’s 10 pictures from Barcelona – the rest were of Antonelli.

Fans on Reddit were not happy with Mercedes’ antics. They saw it as the team deliberately ignoring Russell and shifting their focus to Antonelli and his title chances.

One fan commented: “They mentioned their former driver while omitting Georgie. Ouch.” Another said: “I mean, it certainly looks like he’s slowly being left behind. No one from the team came to celebrate a podium????? when you’re actively fighting for a WCC.”

“It’s one thing for a TP to obviously have a favourite (and we know that Kimi is that to Toto), but the fact that their messaging is all in on Kimi while ignoring George is looking pretty bad,” said one user.

Another echoed: “I feel bad for George. Guy breaks his back pushing the Williams tractor across the line for years, gets the call to front of the grid to race alongside a living legend who gets replaced by a teenager, and now your boss hardly thinks about you. Kind of toxic.”

One fan believes the actions are on purpose: “I try not to follow into anything that seems conspiratorial, but this seems way too conspicuous to be anything other than deliberate. This isn’t like football where you could understand if not all 11 players were mentioned after a game, it’s jarring to see.”

Finally, one said: “It’s comical tbh – George is third in the standings (which is not bad by ANY means), he is 50 points behind Antonelli, which (as could be seen a couple of times in the last years) doesn’t guarantee a substantial advantage and this treatment is nothing but purely absurd.”

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Could George Russell be out of Mercedes in 2027?

Some fans even believe that this is the start of Russell’s exit from Mercedes. The team were quite ambiguous with his contract for 2026, only announcing that he has signed for this season, opening speculation about his future.

Max Verstappen’s links to Mercedes are almost certain to continue into 2026. With Antonelli being Toto Wolff’s new protege, Russell will likely be the one to make way.

In fact, it is even being reported that Russell is not meeting his performance clause at Mercedes, which would give the team leverage to axe him, should they go back in for Verstappen.

Russell is on Alpine’s shortlist for 2027 as well, with Fernando Alonso also being a target. The Brit has a huge mountain to climb to salvage his 2026 title chances, and perhaps his Mercedes future.