THE SECRET REASON GEORGE RUSSELL MADE FEWER MISTAKES AFTER LEWIS HAMILTON LEFT MERCEDES
George Russell claims 2025 was his most solid F1 season as he stepped up to lead Mercedes following Hamilton's exit.
George Russell thinks 2025 was his best F1 season ever, and he hinted that Lewis Hamilton kind of helped make it happen.
Russell said that when he was teammates with Hamilton, the seven-time champ, he really wanted to test his own limits, but it bit him in the butt. Now that Hamilton's with Ferrari and Russell is the main guy at Mercedes, he's dialled it back a bit, and he thinks it's helped his results.
After racing for Williams for three seasons, Russell got the call-up to Mercedes for 2022. In the next three years, he beat Hamilton in points twice, in 2022 and 2024.
With Hamilton moving to Ferrari, Russell became the team leader for 2025, with teenage rookie Kimi Antonelli as his teammate.
Russell did well, grabbing wins in Canada and Singapore as part of a consistently good season.
Media outlets asked Russell if he thought 2025 was his best F1 season so far.
"Yeah, I think so," he said.
For sure, my most solid in terms of performance, my head was in the right place, and I made the fewest mistakes. So yeah, overall, it's been great.”
Someone pointed out that he seemed to make the fewest big mistakes in 2025, and they asked him why he thought that was.
He said that Hamilton's leaving Mercedes made him go back to his old self after trying to push himself to the limit against the seven-time champ.
"I think that's just how I've always been, even before F1, and it helped me win championships," Russell said about making fewer mistakes.
But when I was with Lewis, I just felt like I wanted to push myself to see if I had more in me, to go past the limit and see what would happen.
Because in '23, I wasn't happy just fighting for podiums. I wanted to push harder to try and get a standout result, instead of just settling for a podium or fourth place.
That kind of came back to bite me. So I just chilled out a bit this year, and that probably helped me get better results.
Russell and Antonelli both signed new deals to stay at Mercedes for 2026, when the new car and engine rules are coming.
Antonelli bounced back from a bad slump in the middle of the season and kept Mercedes' trust. Russell thinks the Italian will improve even more next season.
It's always interesting to have a new teammate, just to see how they do things within the team, Russell said.
And he's a young kid with a lot of energy, which is really cool to see. And he's got a really good vibe with the people in the team, which is great.
But in our sport, it always comes down to what you do on the track.
But he's definitely shown he's got some high speed. So I'm sure he'll keep getting better next year, and you'll probably see those good moments more often.
THE 2026 ULTIMATUM: WHY NEXT SEASON IS "MAKE OR BREAK" FOR LEWIS HAMILTON
After a winless 2025 debut, Lewis Hamilton faces a pivotal year. See why Steiner believes the 7x champ is nearing the F1 exit.
Guenther Steiner, who used to run the Haas team, thinks Lewis Hamilton might quit Formula 1 if Ferrari can't get to the top of the Driver's Championship by 2026—he thinks that season will be super important for the racing star.
Hamilton had a tough first year with Ferrari, ending up sixth in the F1 rankings with 156 points.
That was 86 points behind his teammate, Charles Leclerc, and he didn't even get on the podium once, which is a first for him in a full season.
He often said he was bummed out about how his Ferrari debut was going.
Back in November, after the Las Vegas Grand Prix, he told Sky Sports, I feel awful. This has been the worst season ever, and it just keeps getting worse no matter how hard I try. I'm trying everything I can, both in and out of the car.
Hamilton looked pretty sad a lot during the season because he couldn't really fight for race wins.
Steiner told Sports Krone, I think if Ferrari has a good car next season, Hamilton might be able to turn things around. If they are more competitive, Lewis might find his drive again. But if things stay the same, next season will probably be his last in Formula 1. He's not going to go through that again. The situation is tough for him, and you could see that in every interview. So, the next season will be key for him.
What's Hamilton saying about quitting?
When the media asks Hamilton about his F1 future, he doesn't want to talk about retiring.
At the end of the season, when someone asked him what he would say to those who think he might retire soon, the 40-year-old said, I wouldn't say anything to them. None of them have done what I've done, so they don't know anything more than I do.
Last summer, after some rumors that he might leave early, Hamilton said he's staying at Ferrari until his contract is up.
He said, For those writing stories about me thinking about not racing, I've just started here with Ferrari. I've been here for a few years, and I'm in it for the long run, so there's no question about what I'm focused on achieving with this team. There are zero doubts, so please stop making stuff up.
In 2026, everyone will still be wondering about Hamilton's future in F1, mainly if Ferrari keeps struggling with the new rules. And if Steiner is right, another year of not competing for a championship could be the end for him.
MAX VERSTAPPEN NAMED PEER-VOTED DRIVER OF THE YEAR FOR FIFTH CONSECUTIVE SEASON
Max Verstappen wins his 5th straight F1 peer award, beating champion Lando Norris. Lewis Hamilton drops out of the top 10 for the first time.
Max Verstappen copped his fifth straight driver-of-the-year award in Formula 1's secret peer vote, even though he almost grabbed a fifth title in 2025 but didn't quite make it.
The drivers all voted in secret, except for four guys. The Red Bull driver beat out Lando Norris, who just won the world championship, for the number one spot.
The voting worked like the normal F1 points system. Drivers ranked their top 10 rivals. Verstappen got 25 points from six votes to win.
Norris, who won his first championship after a crazy season, came in second in the driver rankings for the second year running.
The McLaren driver won the title after fighting off pressure from Verstappen and his teammate, Oscar Piastri, all season long.
George Russell took third, moving up one spot from last year. The Mercedes driver had a killer season with two wins and seven more podiums.
Piastri was fourth, up one spot, even though his championship hopes fizzled out near the end. The Aussie was leading by 34 points at one point before his performance dropped off.
Charles Leclerc finished fifth, down two spots, even though he got everything he could out of Ferrari's SF-25. The Monegasque driver had seven podiums during a tough season that saw Ferrari finish fourth.
Carlos Sainz held onto sixth after a great comeback at Williams. After a rough start, the Spaniard grabbed two podiums in a strong second half of the season.
Fernando Alonso jumped two spots to seventh, and the two-time world champion had some crazy drives in Aston Martin's AMR25.
Alex Albon took eighth after his best season with Williams, while rookies Oliver Bearman and Isack Hadjar rounded out the top 10, getting props for their awesome first seasons.
Pierre Gasly almost made the list, even with 10 Q3 appearances in Alpine's tricky A525.
Lewis Hamilton, who's won seven world championships, didn't show up in the rankings, which is a first since they started doing this poll. It shows how rough his first season at Ferrari was.
The four drivers who skipped the vote were Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg, Lance Stroll, and Yuki Tsunoda.