George Russell opened Silverstone's new karting centre this week at the very track where his motorsport journey began over 20 years ago. Now 28 and in his third season with Mercedes, the Briton finds himself in his first genuine Formula 1 title fight — though he insists nothing feels different. "I'm just going about my process day to day," Russell said. "Every time I get in a race car, I don't think about the big picture. I just think about here in the moment."

The season began promisingly with pole position and victory in Australia, plus a sprint win in China. However, technical problems in Chinese qualifying allowed 19-year-old teammate Kimi Antonelli to take pole and his maiden victory. In Japan, bad luck with safety car timing relegated Russell to fourth while Antonelli won again, giving the Italian a nine-point championship lead heading into Miami. Russell remains sanguine about the intra-team battle, noting: "At the moment, we're just battling against one another. Last year, if you made a bad start, you couldn't just make your way back up to the front."

Russell admitted he wants Max Verstappen in the title fight: "Yeah, I do." The pair have had public disagreements but now share "a bit of respect." Unlike Verstappen's criticism of the 2026 cars as "Mario Kart," Russell enjoys the new regulations, believing they enable proper wheel-to-wheel racing. "I love winning when there is massive competition," he said. "The more the merrier."