George Russell: Mercedes driver admits concern over Lewis Hamilton's rapid departures at Ferrari ahead of 2026 F1 race opener | F1 News

George Russell has admitted his concern about Mercedes' inferiority at race starts to Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton ahead of the opening race of the 2026 Formula 1 season.

The sport's all-new cars for 2026, which feature both new powertrains and a new chassis after a major regulation change, offer drivers a very different challenge to get away from the grid efficiently.

The FIA ​​tested a new starting procedure at this week's final pre-season test event in Bahrain to give drivers enough time to prepare their cars for lights out, but even with this adjustment there appears to be greater variation than seen in recent years.

“I think we have a lot of potential,” said Russell, who has been named as the bookmakers' favorite for the drivers' title amid Mercedes' generally impressive pre-season performances.

“But to win a race you also have to start well. And I think the two starts I had this week were worse than my worst start in Formula 1.”

Ferrari appears to have designed a powertrain that currently best responds to this new challenge, and Hamilton demonstrated this by producing breathtaking escapades during the test starts held at the end of each of Thursday's two sessions in Sakhir.

Russell continued: “And Lewis, in P11, came in P1. So at this point I don't think it matters how fast you are.”

“I think that's going to trip you up, that's going to be the biggest obstacle. And that's what we're trying to figure out right now, and we're running into some right now.”

Piastri: season start could be “very random”

McLaren's Oscar Piastri, who uses the same Mercedes engine as Russell and should therefore have a relatively similar starting experience, seems less worried.

However, the Australian warned there could be significant gaps at the start of the season's opening races, the first of which is the Australian Grand Prix on March 8, before the field converges as all teams take on the challenge.

Piastri said: “I thought mine yesterday wasn't too bad. I was last, but I think I also overtook about four cars. I think it's just very random at the moment, and I think we're all learning what makes a good start, what makes a bad start.”

“There are some pretty big pitfalls you can run into if you find yourself struggling. But even just managing the power and the procedure is one thing, but the way we start is also a lot more difficult than last year.”

“It's trickier from every angle. And I think what we're seeing right now is people are just doing things right and other people are getting it really wrong.

“So I think in the first few races we might see some starts that look a little bit like what we have this week. But I think we'll start to converge hopefully pretty quickly if you're on the wrong side.”

Russell wary of Red Bull threat in Australia

Despite the consensus in the paddock throughout pre-season that Mercedes are the team to beat, Russell maintained he was still wary of the threat Red Bull would pose in the season opener.

Russell observed last week, at the first of two test events in Bahrain, that Red Bull's display of energy gave them a “scary” advantage over the rest of the field, which surprised many given the Milton Keynes team is producing its own engine for the first time.

The Briton admitted Mercedes had closed the gap in that department in six days of testing in Bahrain, but fears Red Bull will be able to hit the ground running after just three hours of testing ahead of qualifying in Melbourne.

“Their deployment still looks like the best on the grid, which is a big credit to them, and I think it was a bit of a surprise to everyone,” Russell said.

“So I think we'll see in Melbourne how things develop.

“I think the Mercedes-powered teams have made a lot of progress since day one in Bahrain last week, so that gap has narrowed considerably.

“But we're obviously on day six of testing in Bahrain, whereas in Melbourne you have three hours of testing and that's the main problem.

Red Bull chief Laurent Mekies downplayed his team's pace earlier in the week, insisting they were trailing their traditional 'big four' rivals Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari, but four-time world champion Max Verstappen was impressive throughout testing.

Watch every race of the 2026 Formula 1 season live on Sky Sports, starting with the Australian Grand Prix from March 6-8. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime