Editor's Desk: How does George Russell feel about 2026 Formula 1 regulations now?

Instead we have a driver questioning everything and flabbergasted about his performance on what was supposed to be "his year".

Russell started the 2026 Formula 1 season with a dominant win from pole in Melbourne, with all signs indicating that he is going to walk away with this year's Title.

Everything about Russell's body language and his confidence that became borderline pompous showed that he knew that he finally had a car under him that would carry him to a maiden Formula 1 crown after years of hard graft at Williams before his promotion to Mercedes in 2022 as the team lost his competitiveness in the ground-effect era.

When Max Verstappen was warning about the new regulations, Russell did not hold back, saying the Dutchman was moaning because he was not winning.

The Mercedes driver also said Verstappen is welcome to go the Nordschleife, referring to the Red Bull Racing ace's GT3 racing he was taking part in in a Mercedes...

And while we know there is no love lost between Max and George, that makes it war, and the latter was playing that game. We have to admit he exercises Formula 1 politicking very well.

But then things started to unravel for Russell. First he received the nasty surprise that his teammate, Kimi Antonelli, the one he was being big brother to in 2025, emerged as his main Title threat, the Italian turning out to be a revelation in his second season in the top flight.

While both Mercedes drivers had their fair share of reliability woes, Russell has been playing catch up with Antonelli, trying in vain to understand how the 19-year-old can be so fast.

To make matters worse for Russell, it turned out that he was also the victim of the current power unit regulations he was hailing at the start of the season. 

We now know how the misbehaving software can affect a driver's lap time, and Russell has been on the receiving end for these issues, at least in Silverstone and Spa, where he blamed poor deployment for his race-ending crash with Lewis Hamilton on Lap 1. He was complaining about straight-line speed all weekend in Belgium.

Several drivers have been vocal on how they are not in control of what their power units do as algorithms and AI take over.

In Hungary, Russell revealed software calibration issues that caused his troubles. He said: "Effectively there were numbers on the screen that were not quite calibrated properly.

"So it's not like the hardware is wrong or there's a problem with the hardware. But there were two issues in Spa as well.

"I think the deployment was not quite deploying optimally across the lap. We saw this with [Oscar] Piastri as well, who had a similar issue. So that was one of my problems.

"But then on top of [that], we had something separate. It was all linked to the same calibration being not quite right. I'm not going to say simply numbers on a screen, but now we know which numbers potentially were not correct.

"We can rectify that, recalibrate things, and give the power unit performance at its full potential," he revealed.

The 28-year-old also admitted relief that it was not his driving causing him to be beaten by his teammate; he added: "It's a huge load off my mind.

"But also while I'm driving, to be honest, because throughout some laps in Silverstone and then throughout the majority of Friday and Saturday in Spa, I was thinking about how I needed to drive to make the power unit fast in the straight, how I pick up the throttle, the gear usage, how early I am before throttle.

"The data was telling us that was probably the reason, but it turned out it wasn't the reason. So all of that effort over the course of three sessions trying to re-optimize my driving around a new technique was kind of for nothing.

"So I'm looking forward now to going into a weekend where I can just try and focus on driving fast, focus on the simple things.

"I know that is when I perform at my best, but we're not in a simplistic sport, so saying let's just solely focus on the simple things is easier said than done sometimes," Russell concluded.

So as we can see, the weapon Russell was counting on to clinch his first Formula 1 Title spectacularly backfired.

Now we will see how or if the rectified Mercedes power unit allows Russell to be competitive in Hungary this weekend, but he needs to be wary that Antonelli was not just beating him because of the car. That kid is the real deal.

And while he is known for being politically shrewd, Russell's attacks on Verstappen's valid criticism of the 2026 Formula 1 regulations were a faux pas and painted him into a corner.

Maybe it is Karma... But honestly, the scorn building up against the current 2026 Formula 1 regulations, with many drivers and pundits U-turning on their original positive opinions, is a great source of satisfaction, because while many were shilling, those criticizing the regs were mainly worried about the sport's status, which was unhealthy no matter how deep in the sand Stefano Domenicali's head is.

I would also like to believe that we at GrandPrix247 played a role, albeit a small one, in pushing for change.

As for Russell, he spoke too soon, and it would be really interesting to see how he really feels about the current regulations. (Russell quotes by Agnes Carlier)