F1 2026: Chris Medland on how Antonelli’s winning habit puts Russell on the back foot

When Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli was handed the Mercedes seat vacated by Formula 1 legend Lewis Hamilton, the expectation and the pressure was sky high. How do you follow the G.O.A.T.? Now, just a handful of races into his second season of F1, the 19-year-old phenom is delivering on the hype, winning grands prix for fun, and stretching his lead in the world championship points. RACER’s F1 expert Chris Medland joins RACER Weekly to talk about the rise and rise of Kimi, how teammate George Russell can put his faltering title challenge back on track, and who can close the gap to Mercedes’ gold-standard silver machines. Plus, we look at Max Verstappen’s 24-hour reset and run the rule over some of F1 2026’s over- and underachievers.