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Jolyon Palmer has claimed that George Russell is currently in his Lando Norris ‘phase’ as one major problem is spotted.
Russell, 28, has been playing catch-up at Mercedes in recent months despite heading into the 2026 Formula 1 season as the firm favourite to win the world championship.
After winning the season-opener in Melbourne, the Brit has seen his teammate Kimi Antonelli win in China, Japan, Miami, Canada and Monaco.
However, Russell did end his winless run last time out when he won the Austrian Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen and Antonelli.
As a result, there are currently 40 points separating the Mercedes drivers, with Antonelli still in pole position to become the youngest world champion in F1 history.
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Jolyon Palmer believes George Russell’s pace ‘isn’t quite there’
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix, ex-F1 driver Palmer said that Russell is currently going through the same ‘phase’ as Norris did last season.
The 35-year-old, who drove for Renault during his F1 career, believes that Russell is currently getting results without impressing, stating that his overall pace is still ‘not there’.
He believes that there are similarities with what Norris did in 2025, when he won at Silverstone and Budapest before going on to dominate and win his maiden world championship.
Palmer said that while Russell is maximising his points, he has yet to reassert himself in the title fight.
He said on the F1 TV Warm-Up Show: “It was a huge win. He has to get it, and he manages to deliver. I have to say he didn’t do it with aplomb; it was more of a hanging-on-to-it drive than dominance.
“I feel like he is in his Lando phase from last year, where he’s getting results; okay, Kimi DNF’d in Barcelona, but that’s an 18-point swing. Another 10 points in Austria.
“He’s getting results, but the pace still isn’t quite there, and when Lando won here last year, it was with Oscar having a penalty; he won in Budapest, and there was a bit of strategy in play. Then he went on to dominate.
“I feel like George is in his sort of cling-on-to-it, maximise your points but not yet asserting himself back into the championship.”
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In truth, Russell has struggled to match Antonelli’s pace in the majority of the season so far, but it would be wrong to count him out of contention so early.
As Palmer mentioned, Norris was trailing his teammate Oscar Piastri by a fair amount of points when the summer break rolled around last year.
After the break, Norris produced a string of impressive displays, while Piastri’s form dropped drastically, paving the way for the Brit to win the title in Abu Dhabi.
Russell will need to follow a similar pattern to what Norris did last year if he is to claw back the deficit to his teammate.
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