Canadian Grand Prix 2026: George Russell aims to put ‘tumultuous’ season behind him

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, located next to downtown Montreal on Île Notre Dame on the St. Lawrence Seaway, is a very different track from Miami.

Although still a street-style circuit, the weather is much cooler and the tires are nowhere near as damaged by overheating. Russell is much more comfortable when the tires are operating in their normal temperature window, not always on the verge of overheating.

28 years old Won the first race of the season in AustraliaAnd through bad luck lost to the victories of China and Japan. Miami was the first weekend of the year where Antonelli had a decisive advantage.

“I look at my competitor as myself because I know if I take all my boxes, I can be on top, and that didn’t happen in Miami and I know that in my fights at a track like Miami I have to focus only on that and that’s the last few years against Lewis, last year against Kimi. At the moment, I focus on myself the most and focus on resting my team.

“It’s still very early days and I know how to deal with it. It’s not the first time in my career that I’ve had one or two bad races but it changes so quickly in this sport that one week you have a tough race and the next week you’re back and everything is back to normal.”

Mercedes made a major upgrade to their car for this race, which Russell said they hoped would be a “decent” step for their car, which has won four grands prix this season.

Rivals McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari all made big improvements in the last race which brought them closer to Mercedes.

“We hope (it’s) as big as the upgrade for the likes of McLaren and Ferrari in Miami,” Russell said, “but we know there’s no guarantee. We know what it says on paper. I don’t know why it shouldn’t translate but strange things have happened.”