{"id":39986,"date":"2026-09-25T12:50:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T12:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soccer90mins.com\/?p=39986"},"modified":"2026-09-25T12:50:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T12:50:21","slug":"russell-isnt-backing-off-either","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soccer90mins.com\/?p=39986","title":{"rendered":"RUSSELL ISN\u2019T BACKING OFF EITHER"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSSELL ISN\u2019T BACKING OFF EITHER<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

George Russell may have admitted that his Formula 1 title hopes had taken a serious hit, but one thing is clear: he is not ready to simply walk away from the fight.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Heading into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, Russell sits 81 points behind Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli in the Drivers\u2019 Championship. Antonelli has already claimed eight victories this season, while Russell finished fifth at the previous round in Madrid.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That result appeared to push Russell toward a more realistic assessment of his championship chances. After the Spanish Grand Prix, he said he was \u201crealistically\u201d not in the fight for the title anymore.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But the story did not end there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Russell Has Changed His Message<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just days later, Russell made his position clear again: he intends to keep fighting.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mercedes driver said he would continue pushing in every race until it becomes mathematically impossible for him to win the championship.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That is an important distinction.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Russell is not pretending the 81-point deficit does not exist. He openly acknowledged that the gap is huge. Instead, his focus is on improving his performance and taking every opportunity available to him.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His target is straightforward \u2014 fight for wins and pole positions and let the championship situation develop from there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That approach makes sense from Russell\u2019s perspective. There is little value in spending every weekend calculating the points gap when the immediate task is getting the maximum from the car.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Performance Comes First<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Russell has also been clear about what he believes needs to change.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rather than placing all his attention on the championship standings, he has emphasized performance as the priority.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

According to Russell, the reason he finds himself in this position is that his performance has not been strong enough. His thinking is simple: a driver cannot seriously fight for a championship without producing the performances required to score the necessary points.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That is perhaps the most interesting part of his current mindset.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The championship gap is significant, but Russell is refusing to make the gap the central story of every weekend.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Instead, he wants to improve the underlying performance first.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There Are Signs of Progress<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Russell has also pointed to encouraging signs since the summer break.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said he has been pleased with his progress during the last three Grands Prix, particularly with the race pace that had previously been a weakness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Those three races have produced two podium finishes, according to Russell, and he believes the improved pace has put him back in a position where strong results are possible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then came Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Russell made an encouraging start to the weekend by going quickest in practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. That does not change the championship standings, but it does provide an early indication that Russell remains focused on extracting performance from the Mercedes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And that is exactly what he says matters most.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Antonelli Challenge Remains<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The situation inside Mercedes is particularly interesting because Russell is chasing his own teammate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Antonelli’s eight victories have created a substantial advantage, while Russell has not won since the Austrian Grand Prix in June.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Still, Russell’s latest comments show that he has not mentally closed the door on the championship.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He knows the mathematics.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He knows the deficit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And he knows that the margin for error is shrinking.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But until the numbers make the title impossible, Russell says he will continue fighting.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That is the key point here. He is not claiming the championship is within easy reach. He is simply refusing to surrender before the mathematics demand it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For a driver trying to turn a difficult championship position around, the immediate objective is clear: perform first, worry about the points afterward.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Russell isn’t backing off.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The real question is whether the improved pace he has been talking about can translate into the kind of results needed to keep the title conversation alive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSSELL ISN\u2019T BACKING OFF EITHER George Russell may have admitted that his Formula 1 title hopes had taken a serious hit, but one thing is […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":39988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/soccer90mins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790339201495-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/soccer90mins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/soccer90mins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/soccer90mins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soccer90mins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soccer90mins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39986"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/soccer90mins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39989,"href":"https:\/\/soccer90mins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39986\/revisions\/39989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soccer90mins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/soccer90mins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soccer90mins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soccer90mins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}