Lewis Hamilton Admits Chasing George Russell, Not Kimi Antonelli, Is Now His Real Championship Battle

• Lewis Hamilton says Kimi Antonelli holds a 101 point lead over him in the Drivers’ Championship heading into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
• The Ferrari driver believes catching George Russell for second in the standings, or holding onto third, would be a “huge achievement” for him this season.
• Hamilton wants people to “acknowledge the good things” Ferrari have done in 2026 after a winless 2025 campaign in which he failed to reach a podium.

Watch every race of the 2026 season live on Apple TV

Hamilton Picks a Fight He Can Still Win

Lewis Hamilton has all but given up hope of catching Kimi Antonelli in the Drivers’ Championship, but he still sees a target worth chasing at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix: George Russell.

The Ferrari driver arrives in Baku 101 points behind championship leader Antonelli after the Mercedes driver’s win in Madrid stretched his advantage further. Hamilton’s last podium finish came at the British Grand Prix at the start of July, and a retirement in Madrid, his first of the season, dropped him further off the pace. Rather than dwell on the top of the table, Hamilton is now pointing at the driver directly above him.

A Gap That Keeps Growing at the Top

Asked about his own championship prospects ahead of the Baku weekend, Hamilton did not try to talk up his chances against Antonelli.

“Well, I mean, he’s 101 points ahead of me,” Hamilton said. “Just in two races he gained something like 40-odd points on me, and we’ve been working so hard to gain just a couple of points here and there.”

Instead of chasing the top spot, Hamilton pointed to the constructors’ fight as the more realistic goal for the team. “There is still a long way to go and I think the focus for me is, if we can hold on to second, if not somehow catch Mercedes, for the constructors’, I think that would be remarkable,” he said.

Hamilton is 20 points behind Russell, his former Mercedes teammate, in the Drivers’ Championship, sitting third overall.

The Table Hamilton Is Really Racing In

Antonelli’s lead at the top of the standings has grown to 81 points over his own Mercedes teammate Russell, built on eight wins and four further podiums through the season so far. Hamilton’s 101 point deficit to the Italian puts the gap into perspective, roughly the equivalent of more than three race wins, with a limited number of rounds left to close it.

That leaves Hamilton fighting a different battle to the one at the front, one that plays out just below him on the same page of the standings. Russell sits second, Hamilton third, and Lando Norris fourth, with the gaps between that trio and Antonelli widening with almost every round. For Hamilton, closing the 20 points to Russell, or simply keeping Norris behind him, is the version of this championship that still feels within reach.

Looking Back at a Turnaround From 2025

Ferrari went winless throughout the 2025 season and slipped to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, with Hamilton’s own first year at the team producing no podium finishes for the first time in his career. Set against that backdrop, Hamilton wants his current form judged on the progress made rather than the gap to Antonelli.

“I think it’s also just having to think about where we were last year and where we’ve come to this year and whilst it sometimes seems doom and gloom, you actually have to look at the positives,” he said.

Hamilton picked up his first win for Ferrari at June’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, and Charles Leclerc added a victory of his own two races later at Silverstone. Those results, Hamilton argues, deserve more attention than they have received.

“We’ve been fighting, we’ve had wins and podiums, the team have done an incredible job in terms of bringing upgrades, so you really have to acknowledge the good things that we’ve done this year,” he said. “I know lots of people focus on the negatives. For me, again, if I can battle with George and somehow get ahead of him, which would be very difficult as Mercedes are the leaders, if at the end of the year, managing to stay in the top three, even second, I think would be a huge achievement for us as a team.”

A Triple Header to Make Up Ground

Hamilton’s comments came ahead of a run of three races in as many weekends, starting in Baku and continuing into Malaysia and Singapore. The Azerbaijan Grand Prix itself falls on a Saturday for the first time in its history, with practice moved to Thursday and qualifying to Friday to clear the Sunday date for a national day of remembrance in Azerbaijan.

That compressed schedule leaves Ferrari little room to work through the execution issues Hamilton flagged before the sport moves on to two more rounds in quick succession. Hamilton believes fixing those problems, rather than a lack of speed, is what separates Ferrari from better results as the season enters its final rounds.

“I think there’s positives to take out of the last few races, it’s just they haven’t been, I would say, the best in terms of execution and we’ve not had the best results,” Hamilton said. “But the positives we take forwards and we try and learn from the areas we weren’t as good. I believe we can make improvements and I think we have. I’m excited for this weekend.”

How Much Time Is Actually Left

The maths behind Hamilton’s caution is stark. There are 83 points on offer across this triple header alone, 75 spread over the three grands prix in Baku, Malaysia and Singapore plus another eight for the Singapore Sprint. Even a perfect run through all three would not be enough on its own to bring Hamilton back into title contention given his 101 point deficit to Antonelli.

Once the triple header is done, the season moves into its final stretch with a maximum of six rounds and 150 points left to play for. That is exactly why Hamilton has shifted his language from chasing Antonelli to defending Ferrari’s position against Russell and Norris. It is a smaller prize than the one Ferrari wanted at the start of the year, but for Hamilton it is still one worth fighting for over what remains of the season.

For now, Hamilton’s message is one of managed expectations rather than resignation. He has stopped talking about Antonelli and started talking about Russell, and in doing so has redrawn what success looks like for the remainder of his second season at Ferrari.

Want more F1Chronicle.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for the best F1 news and analysis on the internet.

More F1 Reading

• Liam Lawson Downplays His Red Bull Super Sub Stint as He Returns to Racing Bulls for the Azerbaijan GP
• Nico Rosberg Says Ferrari’s Real Problem Is Not Pace but “Messy Weekends” as Vasseur Demands Better Execution in Baku
• Esteban Ocon Declares Himself a “Free Agent” as Haas Weighs His Formula 1 Future for 2027
• Isack Hadjar Signs New Red Bull Deal to Stay Alongside Max Verstappen Through 2027

Written by

Jack Renn

Jack Renn is an editor at F1 Chronicle and a veteran motorsport journalist with 25 years of experience covering Formula 1 and international motorsport. A member of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS), the global body representing accredited sports journalists, Jack has spent his career reporting from paddocks and press rooms across the F1 calendar. His work spans race analysis, technical insight, and in-depth features, giving readers authoritative coverage grounded in decades of firsthand experience at the highest level of the sport.

More articles by Jack Renn →