Kimi Antonelli/Mercedes irons Russell, then out: "She left me"

For GP winner Ralf Schumacher, one thing is certain after another tough duel between the two Mercedes drivers: "Okay, George Russell finished second today and Kimi Antonelli retired, but the fact is - this race here is a very bitter pill for the Briton."

The Sky GP expert explains: "George Russell started the race from pole and firmly believed that he could turn the tide against Antonelli with a win here. But then the exact opposite happened. Not only did Hamilton move ahead of both Mercedes thanks to a clever strategy and a lot of speed, George also had to let Antonelli run him down."

But then the 19-year-old Italian put his Mercedes to one side - engine extinguished like a candle in the wind.

Schumacher says: "For me, Kimi clearly showed today who is number one at Mercedes in terms of speed. And from my point of view, Russell must now subordinate himself at Mercedes."

Antonelli was one of the first to congratulate Lewis Hamilton on his victory. He then holed up for a while in the Mercedes pits with his race engineer Pete Bonington.

Topic of the week

From major doubts to a major spectacle: why GP fans have reason to be delighted

Before the start of the season, critical voices dominated, but the World Championship rounds so far have shown that the rule changes are delivering exactly what was hoped for: excitement right up to the final lap.

Read more

TV program

Today

Budapest: Das Rennen Re-Live

FIA Formula One World Championship

26.07.2026 - 17:15

The teenager from Bologna explained his race, the moment after he had left George Russell behind: "What can I say? The car left me, she gave up. (Kimi speaks, as Italians do, of the racing car in female form. M.B.) But that's the way it goes in racing."

"Honestly, the pain is dominating at the moment. Of course this retirement is extremely annoying, but I can take solace in the fact that I was able to show a strong race, my speed was very good, especially on the hard tyres. I'll take that home as a positive."

Kimi had this to say about the duel with Russell: "I tried to pick up the pace. Things didn't go so well in the first part of the race, the front wheels tended to lock up. I also overdid it a bit in turn 10 and therefore received a final warning for violating the track limits."

"I took too many risks, even though I had been warned a few times by my race engineer Bono. It wasn't easy today to drive in the swirling air of the car in front, because the tyres suffered even more as a result."

"When I finally got George behind me, the car really came to life, it was suddenly much better. But I couldn't capitalise on that because it let me down."

"It wouldn't have been enough against Lewis Hamilton today, but I would probably have finished second. I'm sad, but at the same time I'm happy for Lewis that he got his first win with Ferrari."