Russell warns Ferrari and Hamilton are a "huge threat" to Mercedes' 2026 F1 title

George Russell has named Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton as a “huge threat” to Mercedes’ hopes of winning the 2026 Formula 1 world championship, following Hamilton’s emotionally charged victory at the Barcelona Grand Prix that snapped the Silver Arrows’ six-race winning run.

Hamilton, the seven-time world champion, took his maiden win for Ferrari in Barcelona, crossing the line ahead of Russell after Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli — who had been running second — retired late in the race. It was the first time all season that Mercedes had failed to take maximum points, and it signalled that Ferrari’s aggressive development programme is beginning to pay dividends.

Ferrari currently sits 72 points behind Mercedes in the constructors’ standings. In the drivers’ championship, Antonelli leads, with Hamilton 41 points adrift and Russell nine points further back in fourth.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, Russell was generous in his assessment of his former team-mate’s resurgence. “It’s great to see Lewis back doing what he does best,” he said. “People were writing him off last year, or even the year we were team-mates in ‘24 — ‘Is he too old? Is he this? Is he that?’ And then he goes and he’s been smashing it for the last four or five races. It just shows that you don’t forget how to drive overnight.”

Russell attributed Hamilton’s revival to the alignment of multiple factors. “You need yourself, your team, the set-up, the understanding of the tyres, everything just to click — and when it clicks, you fly. For sure, he is a big threat. Ferrari are a huge threat. Kimi is still very much the driver out front and performing really incredibly and consistently, but Ferrari feel like they’re coming and Lewis is at the forefront of that.”

The warning carries added weight given how quickly the competitive order shifted last season, when Red Bull introduced a significant upgrade package ahead of round 16 in Italy and Max Verstappen won six of the final nine races to mount a late title charge.

Ferrari’s development trajectory has caught rivals off guard in this new regulation cycle, though the team’s power unit remains a weakness. According to ADUO performance data, the Ferrari engine is currently a level below those supplied by Mercedes and Red Bull — a deficit that could yet prove costly as the season intensifies.