Russell aiming to put 'turbulent' start behind him

Mercedes driver George Russell believes he can put a "turbulent" start to the season behind him at this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix.

The Briton's team-mate Kimi Antonelli is 20 points ahead of Russell at the head of the championship after winning the past three races.

But Russell has been on pole in Montreal for the last two seasons, and won here in 2025, and says he has learned a lot from what he admits was a "tough" race in Miami last time out.

Russell said: "It's been a turbulent start but the truth is Miami felt like the first tough race of the season.

"I'm in a good place because I think I've come away from Miami, I've learned more in Miami than I've learned in the first three races of the season."

Russell finished fourth in Miami, behind Antonelli and the McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. He said he had spent the three-week break since then working with his team on the basics such as set-up of the car.

Russell said had been somewhat put to one side amid the focus on understanding the new engines introduced to F1 this year, which have a near 50-50 split between internal combustion and electrical power and require a focus on energy management.

"We got some really great learning from Miami," Russell said, "because this whole season we've all been so focused on the energy that the problems that we've all faced in F1 over the years gone by, which is get the tyres in the window, get the set-up right.

"All of the basics; they've almost been put on the back burner because we've all been so focused on energy management.

"Those issues haven't just disappeared, it's just we haven't been as focused on it and Miami was a really great reminder for my side of the garage and myself that you still need to focus on those fundamentals that make or break the weekend.

"Of course I didn't want to finish fourth in Miami and I wasn't happy about it. But I'm very happy with what I've taken away from it because I think it will actually made me better at the tracks that I do struggle elsewhere every season."

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which is situated on the Ile Notre Dame in the St Lawrence Seaway alongside downtown Montreal, is a very different track from Miami.

Although still a street-style circuit, the weather is much cooler and the tyres do not suffer anywhere near as much from overheating. Russell feels much more comfortable when the tyres are working in their natural temperature window, rather than always on the verge of being too hot.

The 28-year-old won the first race of the season in Australia, and lost out on victories in China and Japan through bad luck. Miami was the first weekend of the year on which Antonelli had had a decisive advantage.