George Russell has been told to turn the tables on Kimi Antonelli in Miami, or he risks losing intra-team momentum to his Mercedes team-mate.

Antonelli became Formula 1’s youngest-ever championship leader at the Japanese Grand Prix where he claimed his second win of the campaign to pull nine points clear of his team-mate.

George Russell must respond to Kimi Antonelli momentum swing

Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust

Although Mercedes arrived on the F1 2026 grid as the pre-season favourites, all the talk was about one driver only – George Russell.

Contesting his fifth season with the Brackley squad, the Briton was billed as the outright favourite ahead of Antonelli, who was only entering his second season in the sport.

But three races in, it’s Antonelli who is leading the way.

Russell made a winning start to the season to lead the championship for the first time in his career after the Australian Grand Prix, before extending his advantage at the top of the table at the Sprint in China.

Antonelli, meanwhile, showed he still had some lessons to learn with a crash in FP3 at the Albert Park circuit and a penalty for barging into Isack Hadjar in the Chinese Sprint.

But just a day after his Sprint penalty, the 19-year-old became a Formula 1 grand prix winner as he converted his pole position into a P1 in the Sunday event to close the gap to Russell to four points.

One race later in Japan, he capitalised on his team-mate’s reliability issues to grab a second pole position, with the fortunate timing of a Safety Car handing him the lead in the grand prix. A second win in two races, and Antonelli took a nine-point lead in the Drivers’ standings.

Russell is no longer Mercedes’ sole title contender.

F1 2026 Mercedes team-mate battle:

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates

F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates

Former F1 driver Chandhok reckons it’s now on the Briton to regain momentum from his side of the garage, and he needs to do it in Miami this weekend.

Although the Briton was the Mercedes driver who finished on the podium last year at the Miami Autodrome, Antonelli was the quicker of the two over a single lap as he clinched pole position for the Sprint and outqualified Russell for the grand prix.

Chandhok believes Russell needs to turn the tables and regain momentum.

“I’m intrigued to see what happens when we go to Miami,” the former F1 driver told Sky Sports,” because that was one of the tracks where he had a clear advantage over George last year.

“It was Miami and Baku, I think, that were the two tracks where he was quicker than George; he had sprint pole, of course, if we remember last season.”

He added: “George will need to strike back in terms of that internal team momentum.”

For now Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says his drivers are free to race, they just need to remember that they are racing for Mercedes and that “150,000” people are counting on them.

“The oddity in Formula 1 is that the two team-mates are also the biggest competitors, and we’ve learned a lot over the last 10-plus years in how to best handle these situations,” he said.

“But ‘best handle’ means also letting them race and acknowledging the fact that they race. There are certain values that we stand for in the team. The team is always bigger than the drivers.

“It is Mercedes, so one of the most formidable brands in the world, the best car brand in the world. We race for 150,000 people that work for us, a company that exists for more than 120 years. And having the opportunity to race, to be one of the few selected racers for Mercedes, also comes with a responsibility for racing for Mercedes.

“And the moment a driver feels like this is all about him, that’s not the mindset that we would ever allow or accept in the team. And we’ve done that in the past. I would rather have only one car driving if that wasn’t clear, that wasn’t happening.

“But I think it will never come to that point because our drivers, they’ve been so long in the Mercedes family, that they are part of that mindset and this philosophical approach and the legacy that they represent.”

“With three races in the car, it’s good, so we need to continue to do our job, and give them a tool that they can continue to win or fight for the positions,” Wolff said.

“And then, towards the end of the season, going to see how the points fall and whether anything needs to be done.

“But at that stage, absolutely off the leash, both of them, as long there is obviously margin between the cars. We are fine.”

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!

Read next: Max Verstappen ‘also leaving Red Bull’ declares former F1 driver