George Russell may be 59 points behind Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli in the 2026 Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship, but one statistic paints a very different picture of their seasons. Despite Antonelli winning six of the opening 11 Grands Prix, Russell currently holds the better average finishing position of the two Mercedes drivers.
There is an even more significant Ferrari angle. Lewis Hamilton, positioned between Antonelli and Russell in the championship, has produced the strongest average Grand Prix finish of the three at 3.7. In a season in which Mercedes have dominated the victory count but Ferrari remain involved in the fight, that consistency gives the Maranello team another reason to believe the championship remains open.
George Russell finds an edge over Kimi Antonelli despite six wins
Mercedes have won eight of the first 11 races of the season between their two drivers, but those victories have been distributed very unevenly. Antonelli has taken six of them, while Russell has won twice. The British driver claimed the season-opening Australian Grand Prix before enduring a wait of more than three months for his second victory in Austria.
Antonelli’s far greater number of wins has helped establish his 59-point championship advantage over Russell. Hamilton currently separates the Mercedes pair in the 2026 Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship standings, keeping Ferrari firmly involved in what remains an open title contest.
However, outright victories do not tell the entire story of Russell’s campaign. Across his classified finishes, he has generally finished higher than his team-mate, producing an average finishing position listed at 3.8 compared with Antonelli’s 4.09.
How Russell’s 2026 F1 results compare with Antonelli
Antonelli’s first 11 Grands Prix have included six victories, one second place and two third places. Those results underline why the Italian has built such a commanding championship position, but two much lower classified finishes have had a major effect on his average.
Russell, meanwhile, has recorded two victories, three runner-up finishes, two fourth places, a seventh and a 12th from his nine classified race results. That level of consistency across his completed Grands Prix is what allows him to outperform Antonelli in the average-finishing-position comparison despite winning four fewer races.
The statistic also offers an interesting perspective on Mercedes’ season. Antonelli has been the more prolific winner and holds the championship advantage, while Russell’s classified results have tended to remain closer to the front. Their contrasting records help explain why the points table and average finishing-position ranking produce different pictures.
Reliability changes the Russell-Antonelli comparison
The difference is heavily influenced by how Formula 1 classification works. Russell retired from the Canadian and Belgian Grands Prix without being officially classified, meaning neither result is included when calculating the average based on his classified finishes.
Antonelli’s difficult races were treated differently. He retired in Barcelona after completing 90 per cent of the race distance and was therefore classified 16th. At Silverstone, problems combined with a track-limits penalty left him 15th. Both results consequently form part of his 4.09 average and pull the figure down despite his six victories.
Russell’s two non-classifications therefore make direct comparisons less straightforward. They hurt him substantially in championship points, but do not have the same negative effect on this particular statistical measure because they are excluded from the calculation.
Lewis Hamilton puts Ferrari ahead in the same 2026 statistic
The most notable figure from a Ferrari perspective belongs to Hamilton. The seven-time world champion has an average finishing position of 3.7, placing him ahead of both Russell and championship leader Antonelli in this comparison.
That consistency takes on additional importance because Hamilton remains part of the championship battle. Ferrari entered the summer phase of the season still chasing Mercedes, with team principal Frédéric Vasseur acknowledging in his 2026 Ferrari mid-season assessment that the team had made progress but still needed more.
Hamilton has also left points on the table during the opening part of the campaign. A separate assessment of the opportunities that cost Lewis Hamilton points in Ferrari’s title fight illustrates why the championship situation could have been even tighter heading into the second half.
Antonelli nevertheless remains in the strongest position because championship points, rather than average finishing position, ultimately decide the title. Yet with Russell showing greater consistency in his classified results and Hamilton recording an even stronger average, the numbers underline how much can still change across the remaining rounds of the 2026 Formula 1 season.
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