{"id":3409,"date":"2026-10-04T09:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T12:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=3409"},"modified":"2026-10-04T09:03:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T12:03:19","slug":"russell-says-f1-title-is-exceptionally-unlikely-after-another-costly-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/russell-says-f1-title-is-exceptionally-unlikely-after-another-costly-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"Russell says F1 title is &#8220;exceptionally unlikely&#8221; after another costly retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">News Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>George Russell described his championship chances as \u201cexceptionally unlikely\u201d after retiring in Malaysia.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Mercedes driver had been running third before a late power unit problem.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Antonelli\u2019s second place increased the gap between the teammates from 66 to 84 points.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>George Russell admitted winning the 2026 championship is now \u201cexceptionally unlikely\u201d after another technical retirement cost him a likely podium<\/strong> in the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. The Mercedes driver had been running third at Sepang before stopping during the closing stages, while teammate Kimi Antonelli finished second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The result widened Antonelli\u2019s lead from <strong>66 to 84 points<\/strong>. Speaking after the race, Russell described a feeling that had moved beyond disappointment following repeated setbacks during the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou\u2019ve almost got to laugh. I\u2019m beyond disappointment. So many times this season, it has happened. It is a real shame,\u201d Russell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Russell had briefly run second behind Max Verstappen after the first Safety Car restart, before Antonelli passed him. He remained in contention for a podium until the late failure ended his race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cJust keep on fighting. The podium looked very certain. Solid race, not amazing race, but solid race,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/verstappen-ends-win-drought-in-chaotic-sepang-race-as-hamilton-recovers-to-podium\/\">full Sepang race report and results<\/a> detail how Verstappen secured his first victory of the season and Lewis Hamilton recovered to take the final podium place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Russell acknowledges the damage to his title hopes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Russell stopped short of declaring the championship over<\/strong>, but acknowledged how difficult his position had become. He remains second in the standings with 236 points, while Antonelli has moved to 320.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNot the first time, I am used to this feeling. I don\u2019t need to say I think it\u2019s gone or whatever, but of course [the title is] exceptionally unlikely,\u201d Russell admitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The retirement was particularly costly because Russell had been on course to limit the damage to his teammate. Had they finished second and third, Antonelli would have gained only 3 points: 18 for second place against Russell\u2019s 15 for third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead, <strong>Russell scored nothing and lost 18 points to Antonelli<\/strong>. He also highlighted how different the championship consequences would have been had the retirement affected the other Mercedes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA three-point loss to Kimi turned into an 18-point loss. If it had been on the other side, it would have been an 18-point gain,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mercedes loses a podium after difficult Sepang weekend<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The retirement compounded a challenging weekend for Mercedes, which had arrived with a major upgrade but struggled to match its expectations. Antonelli salvaged second place, while Verstappen converted Red Bull\u2019s improved performance into victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Russell\u2019s comments distinguished the race itself from the frustration of its ending. He regarded his performance as solid and the podium as attainable, making the technical failure another lost opportunity in his pursuit of Antonelli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/\">Formula 1<\/a> season continues from 9\u201311 October with the Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay. <strong>GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/strong> will cover all the action throughout the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">F1 today: FAQ<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who won the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Max Verstappen won the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang on Sunday, 4 October, taking his first victory of the 2026 F1 season. Kimi Antonelli finished second, with Lewis Hamilton completing the podium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why was the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia delayed?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Heavy rain initially delayed the start at Sepang. Several drivers then experienced power delivery problems during the formation procedure, forcing race control to suspend the start again. The race eventually began more than 90 minutes after its scheduled time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How far ahead is Kimi Antonelli in the F1 championship?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kimi Antonelli leads George Russell by 84 points after finishing second at Sepang while his Mercedes teammate retired. Antonelli has 320 points, Russell has 236 and Lewis Hamilton is third with 214.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Mercedes driver says he is beyond disappointment after losing a likely podium at Sepang, where Antonelli extended his championship advantage to 84 points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020317154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"George Russell","42wp_featured_image_credits":"AFP","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[{"id":31,"location":""}],"footnotes":"","42wp_breaking_news":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[475,17,314,16],"42wp_author":[31],"class_list":["post-3409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","tag-f1-championship","tag-george-russell","tag-kimi-antonelli","tag-mercedes","42wp_author-bernardo-castro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3410,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3409\/revisions\/3410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020317154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3409"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=3409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}