Ex Haas Formula 1 Team Principal Guenther Steiner believes George Russell only has a “five per cent” chance of becoming the 2026 world champion.
Russell suffered yet another setback in his bid to become the 2026 world champion at the Hungarian Grand Prix, finishing a distant seventh.
With teammate and title rival Kimi Antonelli finishing third, Russell fell to third in the standings for the second time this season.
Antonelli comfortably outpaced the Briton across the weekend in Hungary, his seventh-place grid spot relegating him to a frustrating race at a circuit not known for overtaking.
His performance proved to be the latest in a series of disappointments to have afflicted his season, with mistakes, unreliability and accidents compounding his season.
Russell suffered his second retirement of the season at Spa, being punted off on the first lap by Lewis Hamilton. It ended a run of races where his title defence looked to be back on track, having taken a win and two second places.
Steiner delivered a withering verdict of Russell’s title chances, having now slid to 59 points behind Antonelli with 11 races remaining.
“I’d give him five per cent,” he said on the Red Flag Podcast.
George Russell not to blame for latest malaise
Starting and finishing in seventh masks the work Russell did in the race to counter yet another reliability issue that befell him at the start of the race.
At lights out, the anti-stall system kicked in, with the Briton plummeting down the order and forced to fight back through the field.
Steiner questioned Mercedes’ haste to take the blame for the incident, while highlighting the luck involved that he was not hit by another car moving at speed.
“Mercedes took some of the blame themselves – did they just do it to make him happy, or was it real?
“I don’t know, but I think he got very lucky to get away with that and not get hit by anyone.
“By sitting this far up front, for how long he sat still… he was lucky.”
Russell’s title challenge can be described as haphazard by cynics and immensely unlucky by others.
Regardless of the semantics, the Briton faces an increasingly difficult challenge to build stability and swing momentum away from Antonelli, who continues to enjoy the season Russell would dearly love to replicate.
The 19-year-old’s podium in Budapest extended his championship advantage heading into the summer break, leaving Russell with a mountain to climb if he is to keep his title defence alive when Formula 1 resumes in Zandvoort.
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