Jacques Villeneuve has criticized George Russell’s efficiency on the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, branding it “very disappointing”.
F1 championship hopeful Russell entered 2026 because the bookmaker’s pre-season title favourite, however completed second to Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari in Sunday’s race in Barcelona.
Russell was in a position to shut the hole on Andrea Kimi Antonelli within the standings because of his Mercedes teammate’s late retirement, however Villeneuve branded the Briton “would not seem like a driver aiming for the championship”.
Russell struggled to maintain tempo in key moments
Russell struggled for tempo at key factors within the race and was handed by Antonelli earlier than the Italian W17 completed with only a few laps remaining.
“Russell wasn’t excellent at defending, proper? He was too gradual and left the door open,” 1997 world champion Villeneuve informed Sky Sports activities F1.
“He did not seem like a driver with a shot on the championship. He regarded like he was already dropping the battle to his teammate.
“Truly, Russell’s run right now was disappointing. He did not have the tempo. If you happen to take a look at his qualifying, he was lined by his teammate.
“However he did not have the tempo and was falling again underneath stress, which was very disappointing.”
Nico Rosberg echoed the guy F1 world champion’s scathing verdict, insisting Russell nonetheless wanted to enhance on race day.
“It is what I stated earlier than the race: Russell is 10/10 in qualifying, however his race tempo remains to be a bit questionable,” Rosberg stated.
“I’ve by no means seen a ten/10 in a race and I noticed it right now too. It is just a bit bit missing there. Lewis was quick, Kimi appeared slightly quicker and Norris was very quick.”
“George took a step ahead this weekend, however I feel he nonetheless wants to search out slightly extra.”
Russell believes Hamilton had the tempo to win anyway
Russell admitted he lacked the tempo to problem for victory.
“That is 18 factors greater than we have had within the final two races. We’ll take this as a constructive and take positives from the weekend as a complete,” Russell stated.
“To be sincere, the race felt good. I had a strong feeling firstly and slowly simply closed the hole to Lewis. And he clearly dedicated to 3 stops fairly early after which we lined however bought caught with two stops.”
“It was fairly difficult from that time on, I did not have the tempo and I wasn’t too proud of the arduous tires.”
