George Russell snubs Lewis Hamilton in picking biggest rivals for 2026 F1 title

George Russell believes Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc are his biggest rivals for this year’s Formula 1 world championship.

British driver Russell is the favourite for the title this year, with Mercedes believed to be the early frontrunners in F1’s new era of engine and chassis regulations.

Yet the top-four teams are closely packed after pre-season testing, with Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull in contention alongside the Silver Arrows.

Ahead of this weekend’s season-opener in Australia, at a Mercedes Q&A event on Thursday morning, Russell was directly asked who he thinks will be his biggest competitors outside of his own team. “Max and Charles,” he said.

Russell and Red Bull’s Verstappen enjoy a fierce rivalry, having fallen out amid much acrimony at the end of the 2024 season. They also clashed on track last year, when the Dutchman clattered into Russell in Barcelona, receiving a 10-second penalty.

Russell also opted to pick Ferrari’s Leclerc, as opposed to fellow Scuderia driver and former teammate Lewis Hamilton, in his top two.

“There’s an element of the unknown and excitement heading into the first race,” he said. “It’s been a much better pre-season than in recent years.

“There are things we’ve failed with over the last four years so regardless of the stopwatch, things are working out.

On being the title favourite, Russell said: “It doesn’t change anything, there’s a lot of chat around us. We take it as a compliment. But when the visor is down, you race flat out and don’t think about any of the additional noise.

“There’s an element of the unknown and excitement heading into the first race. It’s been a much better pre-season than in recent years. There are things we’ve failed with over the last four years so regardless of the stopwatch, things are working out.”

Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli, however, did name Hamilton as one of the team’s biggest challengers,ahead of the first race in Melbourne on Sunday