Mercedes Weigh Tilting Final Races Towards Russell as Antonelli Steering Mystery Lingers

Mercedes are considering how to help George Russell overhaul Max Verstappen for second place in the drivers’ championship over the last three races of 2026. The idea surfaced after a Brazilian Grand Prix in which Andrea Kimi Antonelli started second and finished fifth, his chance of victory undone by a car that he said felt as if it was steering itself after his first pit stop. Russell took fourth at Interlagos and now trails Verstappen by 17 points. Mercedes therefore have two problems to manage before Las Vegas on 22 November: a strategic choice about whom to favour and a technical fault nobody has yet explained in public.

Seventeen points with a queue behind

The championship itself has been settled for some time. Antonelli has 390 points and nine wins, 111 clear of anyone, and Mercedes lead the constructors’ standings on 652 points to Ferrari’s 510. Below the champion, the table is far closer:

Pos	Driver	Team	Points	Gap to 2nd
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	279	–
3	George Russell	Mercedes	262	17
4	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	261	18
5	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	249	30
6	Lando Norris	McLaren	246	33

Five drivers are covered by 33 points with three Grands Prix left. Brazil showed how fast that order can move. Russell arrived at Interlagos on 250 points, nine behind Hamilton and 11 behind Verstappen. He left one point ahead of Hamilton and 17 behind Verstappen, because Verstappen’s drive from 21st on the grid to second earned him 18 points to Russell’s 12. Norris, who won from pole, gained 25 and is suddenly in the frame too.

The table also shows that Russell is defending as much as he is chasing. One point is the smallest possible margin over Hamilton, and Ferrari have every reason to push hard in the final rounds because their own second place in the constructors’ championship, 95 points clear of Red Bull, is not yet mathematically secure. Any Mercedes plan that looks only upwards at Verstappen risks Russell finishing fourth.

What “helping Russell” would actually involve

Crash.net reports that Mercedes will help Russell in his bid to reclaim second. The principle is easy to defend. Antonelli has nothing left to win in the standings, and a team that has won 12 of the 20 races has earned the right to arrange its final weekends as it sees fit. In practice, though, there is less a team can do for its number two driver than the phrase suggests, and the points arithmetic explains why.

The simplest form of help is swapping the two Mercedes on track, but that only moves Russell relative to his team-mate. If the order is Antonelli, Verstappen, Russell, waving Russell past Antonelli does nothing, because the Red Bull is still in between. Even where a swap is possible, its value is small. Swapping fourth and fifth gains Russell two points, second and third gains three, and first and second gains seven. To pass Verstappen outright, Russell needs to outscore him by 18 points over three races, or six per weekend. Team orders can supply some of that. They cannot supply most of it.

The help that matters more is less visible:

• Strategic priority. Giving Russell the first stop when the team must choose, the preferred tyre offset, and the safer call under a Safety Car.
• Qualifying support. Las Vegas has some of the longest flat-out sections on the calendar, and a tow from the sister car on the final run can be worth a grid slot or two.
• Taking points off Verstappen. Every time Antonelli finishes ahead of the Red Bull, Verstappen loses points he would otherwise have scored. A champion driving for wins is arguably Russell’s best ally, provided he does not take those points from Russell instead.

Recent history offers one model and one warning. The model is Abu Dhabi 2021, when Sergio Pérez held up Lewis Hamilton on old tyres and closed a gap for Verstappen at a decisive moment. That was a single act of team play, and it changed a championship. The warning is Interlagos 2022. Verstappen, already champion, refused an instruction to give a position back to Pérez on the final lap, and Pérez eventually lost second in the championship to Leclerc. Team orders only work when the driver asked to make the sacrifice accepts them, and that depends on the relationship between the two drivers as much as on the instruction.

A car that seemed to steer itself

That brings the problem back to Antonelli. RaceFans relayed his radio message after the first stop in Brazil, in which he asked whether the team could see what he was experiencing: a car that felt as though it was steering by itself. From that point he fell away from the lead, and Norris converted pole into victory without serious pressure from the Mercedes that had started alongside him.

Mercedes have not explained the fault, and it would be wrong to present any theory as fact. The timing does narrow the likely causes, however. A problem that appears straight after a stop points first to whatever changed at the stop: the new set of tyres and their pressures, a wheel or wheel-nut issue, front-wing damage, or an adjustment made while the car was stationary. Beyond that, the 2026 cars carry movable aerodynamic elements front and rear. An element that does not return to its correct cornering position would upset the balance in exactly the way a driver might describe as the car developing a mind of its own. A fault in the power-steering assistance or its sensors would produce a similar sensation through the wheel.

Until the cause is known, it should shape how Mercedes approach the coming weeks.

Why the fault comes before the plan

Russell drives the same car. If the problem is systemic, whether a component, a software behaviour or an interaction between the aero modes and a particular tyre, it could just as easily strike his car in Las Vegas. Ordering Antonelli aside means little if both cars carry an unexplained weakness. The team’s first duty to Russell’s championship bid is to make sure that whatever happened in Brazil cannot happen again.

There is also the question of fairness to Antonelli. He has won nine races this season and has driven like a champion. He lost what looked a likely win in Brazil, apparently through no fault of his own. Asking him to play a supporting role at the next race, while the reason for his lost afternoon remains unexplained, is a difficult request to make of a 20-year-old champion who will want to finish his title year on a high.

Russell’s press-room walk-out

The other part of this story is Russell himself. RacingNews365 reported that he walked out of an FIA press conference, an episode the outlet presented as a sign of a driver who has been finding things difficult recently. It is easy to see why. Russell started the 2026 regulations as the experienced leader of a team that went on to build the class of the field. He has won three races, the same number as Verstappen and Norris, yet the title went to his younger team-mate by a margin that leaves no room for argument.

That is the strongest case for Mercedes backing him. Finishing second in the drivers’ championship earns the team no extra prize money, since that is paid on constructors’ positions. Its value lies in how Russell feels and how he is seen. He would be the runner-up in the best car, having beaten a four-time champion, rather than third behind a Red Bull driver whose team sits third in the constructors’ standings. For a driver whose frustration is starting to show publicly, that difference matters, and Mercedes will want him settled going into the winter.

Las Vegas suits the idea on recent form. Russell won there from pole in 2024, although Verstappen won in both 2023 and 2025, and the 2026 cars behave very differently from their predecessors. Red Bull are not preparing for a quiet end to the season either. They lead McLaren by 17 points for third in the constructors’ championship, so Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, third in Brazil, will be pushing for every point regardless.

Fix the steering, then back Russell

Mercedes should back Russell, but they should do it quietly and in the right order. The steering fault must be found and fixed before Las Vegas, because an unreliable car will cost Russell more points than any team order can give him. After that, the most effective help is strategic: priority on pit calls and tows, with Antonelli racing freely at the front, where every point he takes from Verstappen is a point Russell does not have to win back. On-track swaps should be kept for the final lap of the final race, if the arithmetic needs them.

Verstappen showed in Brazil that he can score heavily from almost anywhere on the grid, and Hamilton is one point behind Russell. If Mercedes give their cars a clean mechanical bill of health and let Antonelli race for wins, Russell has a realistic chance of second. If they rely on swapping positions to close the gap, Russell is as likely to drop to fourth.