Russell says his 'confidence is back and growing' after Azerbaijan win

George Russell said his "confidence is back and growing" after winning in Azerbaijan last weekend as he chases down team-mate Kimi Antonelli in the drivers' championship. Russell has three victories this season, having previously won in Australia and Austria.

Russell's Azerbaijan success was his first in three months and he said it followed a breakthrough in understanding how to drive the Mercedes. He trails Antonelli by 66 points with either seven or eight races still remaining and began the year as championship favourite before Antonelli took control early on. Russell acknowledged he struggled to get to grips with the Mercedes designed for this year's all-new car and engine rules and said he had to "consciously adjust" his driving style.

"The thing that's changed is I feel my performances are strong enough to fight for victory week in week out," Russell said. "I know what I need from the car and myself and I don't really feel lost any more. "Confidence is back and it's growing again and it's all coming a bit more naturally, which is how it has been for most of my career and not how it's been for most of the season."

Mercedes expect a strong challenge from McLaren at the flowing Sepang track this weekend and have introduced their first major upgrade for some time to try to bring them into contention. Asked whether another strong performance at this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia could change the psychology of the title fight, Russell said: "I've never really felt in a position to fight for the victories because my performances weren't strong enough. "But now finally I feel I'm in a place I can fight for victory week in week out. "Of course there is a big deficit in the championship, but there is a third of a season to go and still so much can happen. I am just going to go race by race. I feel more at one with the car and hopefully this upgrade will play into my favour a bit more. So bring it on."

On the adjustments he had to make earlier in the season, Russell said: "I went through a few races where I was having to think how to make those adjustments, whereas now it's all just a bit more intuitive and a bit more natural. "So what I set out to achieve, in terms of getting the car [into] a slightly better window, I'm now achieving without having to think about it as much. So I can just focus on driving fast."

Antonelli endured a difficult weekend in Baku, crashing in qualifying and starting 16th before recovering to finish fifth. The Italian said: "Last weekend was probably there worst weekend from me of the season. "But still good learning from the weekend and was also a very strange race for me in Baku because it was one of those races where I consciously tried not to take any risks and just drive under the limit which was very weird but it was what I needed on Sunday. I needed a clean result after a very disrupted weekend. "I wasn't happy after the race but I learned the most important learning was I need to be always 100% because if I don't try to do everything right in my power then nothing is going to come my way."

Frederic Vasseur has been team principal of Ferrari since 2023 and Lewis Hamilton declared him "the guy to lead us" two days after Ferrari made an unusual public statement backing their team principal amid speculation. Hamilton, the seven-time champion who is third in the drivers' title race while Ferrari are second in the constructors' battle, said removing Vasseur would be a mistake. "He's doing a fantastic job," Hamilton said. "If you look at the history, how many people [have been swapped] out [of] that role… and I feel like it's in a better place than it's been before. "But it's not a one-man situation. It's lots and lots of people coming together and if you want to point fingers, point it somewhere else. There's people above who are also part of it. "Fred's in his position, he's not going anywhere and I'm here to stay with him and I still believe fully in where we're going. "Swapping him out won't change how the team is moving forward. If anything it will be detrimental."

Hamilton pointed to Ferrari's improvement after a winless 2025 season in which they finished fourth in the teams' championship and noted that he and Charles Leclerc have each won a race this year. He said Ferrari started the season with the best chassis in terms of cornering performance but that "their engine has fallen short of those produced by Mercedes and Red Bull." Hamilton added: "We're second in the championship, a huge improvement on last year already. And that's with a deficit on power of average 0.4secs [per lap] every single weekend. Some races it's 0.6sec and we've still be delivering really great performances. "And that just highlights how great a job people at the factory have done. All the negativity takes away from that. "Of course we're not where we want to be but you don't go from last year's experience straight to number one. It's a process and I think we've built a good foundation this year, we need to continue to build on it. We're not perfect yet but I do believe we can get there. I think we've had the best car this year. But it's unfortunate we have been down 0.4secs on power. That is difficult overcome but it's something we're working on for next year."

Mercedes and their drivers head to the Sepang track this weekend with the team's first major upgrade for some time as Russell seeks to build on his Azerbaijan victory and narrow the championship gap to Antonelli.