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Nelson Piquet Jr has watched the first four races of the Mercedes internal battle and come away worried about George Russell. Verstappen's brother-in-law, who raced in Formula 1 himself and follows the sport closely, believes Russell is in a more fragile position than his one win and fourth place in the championship suggests.
The Dynamic Has Completely Changed
Piquet Jr made his analysis on the Pelas Pistas podcast. His starting point is the evolution of Russell's situation within Mercedes from his arrival alongside Hamilton to the present moment alongside Antonelli.
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"When George came to Mercedes, it was actually a win-win situation. If you finish behind Hamilton, that is logical because he is Hamilton. But if you beat him, that is enormous. The pressure was on Lewis then, not on Russell." That protected position is now gone. In its place is a 19-year-old who has won three of the first four races.
"Now suddenly there is a young guy next to him who did not even have a driving licence when he arrived at Mercedes. And yet he is putting real pressure on him."
World Class but the Trajectory Is Worrying
Piquet Jr was careful not to write Russell off entirely. "Maybe it sounds harsh, but this could easily be the beginning of the end. And with the end I do not mean that Russell is no longer a top driver, because he still belongs to the four or five best drivers on the grid, alongside Leclerc, Verstappen, Hamilton, and Alonso."
The concern is psychological. "Even for the very best drivers in the world, confidence makes an enormous difference, especially on street circuits. Maybe he is gradually losing confidence, maybe something else is at play. But one race becomes two, three, and that gap to Antonelli is slowly becoming genuinely worrying."
Montreal, at least, offers an encouraging precedent. Russell won the Canadian Grand Prix last year. Antonelli took his first Formula 1 podium at the same circuit in 2025. If Russell is looking for the right place to reassert himself before the gap becomes more difficult to close, he could not have picked a better venue on the calendar.
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
I. Hadjar
A. Antonelli
C. Leclerc
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