Russell admits he felt "uncomfortable" over Verstappen comeback at Austria GP

In the end, in Russell's words, it was a "calm and controlled" race to take his second victory of the 2026 season, but the Briton made sure to pinpoint Verstappen as a real threat, with the Dutchman only 1.6s behind him by the chequered flag. Red Bull arrived to the Styrian hills with seven upgrades, while Verstappen also had a fresh tyre advantage in the closing stages.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has praised Russell's performance as "cold blooded," but the race did not quite feel that way for the 28-year-old, as he explained to media, including GPblog, at the post-race press conference.

"It didn't quite feel like that, to be honest," Russell said. "It felt a really calm and controlled race. I think if we took Max out of the picture, it was, you'd say, a really strong performance from Mercedes. 20 seconds ahead of McLaren, more ahead of Ferrari.

Russell's attention then turned to his own home race, Silverstone next weekend, but while the Austrian GP victory has given him more confidence in his own abilities, he is still slightly puzzled on how to optimise set up in 2026.

Russell said: "I have a lot of confidence in myself knowing I can do it. I have less confidence in being able to get everything aligned with the car, the setup, and the tyres because it's just been so up and down for me, and even this weekend at points, I was six tenths behind Kimi, and then come Q3, I was two tenths ahead. And I don't honestly have a major answer for that."

Russell was nonetheless pleased he could perform at a track not entirely suited to his driving style in Spielberg, arguing Silverstone is a better fit for him. He did, however, yet again highlight Verstappen as potential threat.

"I think so," Russell said when asked if Silverstone will suit his style. "A track where you're leaning more on the front tyres, ordinarily more of a front deg track rather than a rear deg track.