Russell says bad luck has hit him in most F1 2026 races

George Russell says he has had only six race weekends without an issue in the 2026 Formula 1 season, and has been left feeling exhausted by repeatedly having to recover from setbacks. He trails team-mate Kimi Antonelli heavily, with Antonelli having won nine races to Russell's three and clinched the title with four rounds remaining in Mexico.

Russell said he reviewed every race with his engineers and concluded that 13 of the 19 weekends so far featured problems that were judged to be bad luck, though he believes the team should question these more deeply given how often they occur. He pointed to a qualifying breakdown in China, where he pulled the clutch too early at the start of Q3, as one example, and said it was not clear whether this could have been foreseen.

The piece tests Russell's claim against the season's results, with a lost win in Australia and a qualifying failure in China among the examples examined, ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix.