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George Russell says a decisive “big reset” was behind his Barcelona Grand Prix pole position, after the Mercedes driver abandoned an approach that had left him chasing team-mate Kimi Antonelli in the Formula 1 title fight.
Russell began the season with victory in Melbourne, but Antonelli has since taken five consecutive grand prix wins to build a 68-point advantage. Russell’s recent run has also been hurt by failing to score in the last two races, but Barcelona has offered a sharp response: pole position ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, with Antonelli third and three tenths off the pace.
For more on the qualifying picture around Russell and Hamilton, read our report on Russell’s Barcelona pole as Antonelli’s streak ended.
“I just had a big reset going into this weekend,” Russell told Sky Sports. “Every lap from the start of FP1 we've been in the top two positions, and that is what I was most proud and happy about.”
That consistency mattered as much as the final lap. After a bruising spell, Russell said he felt back in the same place as he had at the start of the year.
“After such a tough run of results, obviously for various different reasons, it was a big reset, and you never know how it's going to pan out. But I really felt my groove again, really felt comfortable in the car, very similar to how I felt at the start of the year,” he said.
Monaco had been particularly costly. Russell qualified sixth, then fell outside the top 10 after two penalties, while Antonelli controlled the race from pole. That prompted Russell to suggest the nimbler 2026 cars better suited Antonelli’s style, before he changed direction in Spain.
Russell admitted he had moved towards Antonelli’s methods because the teenager was producing results, but that route did not suit him.
“I've not looked at a single piece of data the whole weekend,” Russell said. “I've just driven the car and trusted my instincts.”
He added: “Kimi was performing so well, and I did a bit of a copy-paste of what was working for him, and it wasn't working for me. So I was like, I need to trust my own gut here.”
Antonelli, by contrast, has not felt at ease in Barcelona. He said the track and tyre behaviour had punished his driving style, particularly across a full qualifying lap.
“I've been overdriving a little bit,” Antonelli said. “This is a weekend where you kind of need to drive slow to go fast, and I haven't done that well.”
Even so, he believes his race pace can be stronger, leaving Mercedes with both opportunity and tension heading into Sunday.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.
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