George Russell says he is 'handcuffed' for Japanese GP after failed set-up change allowed Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli to take pole

George Russell says he is going into Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix “handcuffed” by the unsuccessful set-up change that blighted his qualifying performance.

The World Championship leader will start from second on the grid in Suzuka after finishing almost three tenths behind his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli on Saturday.

The Mercedes duo had appeared closely matched throughout the weekend, but there was a gulf throughout qualifying after a change was made to the rear of Russell’s car following final practice earlier on Saturday.

Russell told Sky Sports F1: “We made an adjustment on the rear of the car before qualifying but it was tiny, it was meant to be transparent. And I went out and it was so bad it felt like something was broken on the rear.

“It didn’t improve, I just had to adjust my driving style a lot, I had to remove a huge amount of front wing to compensate, because it was almost like I was spinning off on the entries of the corners. The last corner, I couldn’t get round, I was almost spinning in that corner.

“It’s really annoying. I don’t know what happened.”

With the season being in just its third round, Russell highlighted the challenge teams are facing in adjusting to the 2026 cars, which feature both new power units and chassis.

He added: “The reason we changed it was just balancing the car out. I don’t want to get too much into details, but it was only a very small change. It’s something we’ve always done in the past.

“We’re still new to this car, so either it has a much bigger impact than we realise, or we did something wrong, or something’s broken. And unfortunately, we’re a little bit handcuffed now.”

It was only Mercedes’ significant early-season advantage over their rivals that ensured Russell secured a place on the front row, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri just half a tenth back in third.

After winning the season opener in Australia, Russell finished second to Antonelli in China after suffering a technical issue in Shanghai qualifying, before the Italian claimed his maiden F1 victory to cut his team-mate’s championship lead to just four points.

Russell added: “That’s two weekends in a row we’ve had… in China we were obviously quick throughout and just got unlucky in Q3, here was odd.”

Wolff: Russell at disadvantage for race

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff confirmed after the session that he expects the set-up to continue to be problematic for Russell during Sunday’s race.

Wolf told Sky Sports F1: “We did a set-up tweak on the other (Russell’s) side (of the garage).

“Something we expected to have less impact than it had, and it put the car on the nose, so too much oversteer and that made it very difficult for him.”

Asked whether the set-up could help Russell in the race, Wolff replied: “It’s probably the opposite.

“He needs to carry this into the race now, which is certainly a disadvantage, but these things happen.”

Antonelli wary of Russell threat

Despite Russell’s situation, Antonelli believes his team-mate will be his biggest challenger for victory on Sunday.

Asked what could stop him winning, Antonelli told Sky Sports F1: “My team-mate, myself! I’m not going to worry too much about it.

“I’m just going to focus on what I have to do, try to get the procedure right, a good start without overdoing it.

“Hopefully I will be P1 into Turn 1, then we can make the best use of the free air to set the pace.

“Of course, I will try to work on what we have to do, together with Bono (Peter Bonnington) and the other engineers, to be as ready as possible for tomorrow.”

Suzuka has traditionally presented drivers with limited overtaking opportunities, but Antonelli is expecting the new 2026 cars to offer more potential for changes of position.

He said: “We’ve seen obviously how much easier it is to follow and obviously when you get the overtake mode, how much more battery you can harvest and then deploy on the straights, so you never know, it can give good racing.

“But still, I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as China and Melbourne because obviously the track, first of all, is quite a bit tighter and you don’t have as many straights where you can overtake, or straights and then big braking, where you can make the move.

“You have a lot of fast entries, so it’s not going to be easy, but that’s why it’s crucial to have a good start and then we’ll see from there how the pace is going to be.”

Sky Sports F1’s Japanese GP schedule

Sunday March 29
4.30am: Japanese GP build-up – Grand Prix Sunday*
6am: THE JAPANESE GRAND PRIX*
8am: Japanese GP reaction – Chequered Flag*
9am: Ted’s Notebook*

*Also live on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1 is at the iconic Suzuka Circuit for the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime

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