Mercedes star George Russell recently came out and detailed how he would’ve won at least a couple of championships had he joined F1 earlier. Former F1TV host Will Buxton, in the latest episode of Up to Speed, slammed Russell for the World Title claims.
George Russell made his F1 debut in 2019 with Williams, having been a part of the Mercedes driver academy. However, the Briton recently made comments about how he would’ve had a couple of titles if he had joined F1 in 2014, which is the year when Mercedes started dominating.
In the recent episode of Up to Speed, while discussing Max Verstappen’s possible move to Mercedes, Will Buxton pointed to Russell’s comments,
“I saw a quote out of him today, in which he said, if I’d got to Formula One five years earlier, I’d probably have a couple of championships by now. I fear a level of entitlement there,” said Buxton
The former F1TV host, who’s now the play-by-play commentator for IndyCar, went on a rant and bashed the Mercedes star, pointing out how the Briton wouldn’t even have made it to the Silver Arrows, who had Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg as their lineup.
“If he’d made it to Formula One in 2014, he wouldn’t have got a seat at Williams like he did in 2019 because they had Massa and Bottas, and George isn’t outperforming either one of them, which leaves him probably at a seat at Marussia or Caterham. And he wouldn’t have got the Marussia seat because that was Bianchi, who was a Ferrari Junior. Alexander Rossi was waiting in the wings for the other seat.” (16:00 onwards)
“Max Chilton was paying for that, and I don’t think George had Max Chilton’s money, which puts him in a Caterham. So he probably gets, what, half a season? If that, he’s definitely not sliding into a Mercedes seat at that time because you’re not beating Hamilton at his peak or Rosberg,” added Buxton
“So a couple of championships from where? Because he wouldn’t have won them in Formula E because Wehme would have absolutely destroyed him and Verne would have destroyed him at their peak. So he gets, what, lucky if he gets an LMP2 title, maybe a couple of GT titles,” he concluded
Toto Wolff reacts to George Russell’s recent performance dip in comparison to teammate Kimi Antonelli
George Russell came into the 2026 season as the favorite to win the title. After winning the Australian GP with ease, many believed it was Briton’s title to lose. However, at the next three races, 19-year-old Kimi Antonelli dominated and won, leaving Russell and fans shell-shocked.
Toto Wolff came out and spoke about George Russell’s performance dip in comparison to his teammate, as said,
“What we love about this sport is that the clock never lies at the end of the race, and the clock says Kimi deservedly won the last three GPs. Russell hasn’t done as well, in some cases due to team problems, or bad luck, and in Miami due to his own mistakes. That said, we know George’s value, and we know he’ll return, starting from Canada, very competitive and ready to make life difficult for his opponents.” (via Gazzetta dello Sport”
The upcoming Canadian GP has been a strong track for the Briton, and if Antonelli is able to beat George Russell in Montreal, it’ll ring some serious warning bells for the 28-year-old.
Edited by Pranay Bhagi
