F1 mailbag: Where in the world is Adrian Newey? And is George Russell in trouble?
Mercedes emerged triumphant again as Kimi Antonelli took his third consecutive victory.In only his second Formula 1 season, the Italian driver showed maturity to keep world champion Lando Norris at bay and win the Miami Grand Prix. Mercedes seemed more catchable than in the opening three races of the 2026 calendar, a blip on the radar as the team readies a bigger upgrade package for the Canadian Grand Prix this month.Before the paddock headed into another two weekends free of F1 racing, we answered a few of your post-race questions in our latest mailbag.Questions have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.How concerned should George Russell be? It’s a long season, and everyone knows how Lando Norris came back to win in 2025, but with Russell 20 points away, it seems like ‘momentum’ is with Antonelli. Do you think it’s purely circumstantial or does Russell need to make adjustments? — Ed D.Pretty concerned — to start with the first question, Ed. That was a drubbing Russell just endured, even though (as I’ll get to) there were some positive signs for the very early championship leader in Miami.He just had no answer for Antonelli, aside from those few laps midway through the sprint race, when Russell briefly got ahead in their battle.But Antonelli is a second-year F1 driver. Russell is in his fifth year with Mercedes and his eighth season in F1. I expected him to find something to close the gap earlier. But he was even trying to change his driving style to better suit the Miami course during the main race last weekend.Miami is an important factor. As Russell made clear over the weekend, it’s a track he has always found “challenging.” He does not cope well with the low-grip asphalt and the high heat. An intriguing parallel would be Oscar Piastri’s inability to match Norris in Austin and Mexico last year.The gap in points would have been smaller if Russell had better luck in China and Japan. At least in Miami, he took advantage of the wild end to Charles Leclerc’s race and finished fourth.Champions need to gain places on bad days — but they also need to minimize the frequency of those bad days and beat their rivals on tracks they prefer. Next up, F1 heads to Canada, where Russell has shone over the years, including his win last year.If Antonelli beats him in Montreal, Russell should upgrade that concern level to “very” and start looking at major changes. – Alex Kalinauckas
George Russell is looking over his shoulder at Mercedes these days (Clive Mason/Getty Images)Is Adrian Newey still the team principal at Aston Martin? Since torching Honda in Melbourne, I’ve not seen or heard from him! What is going on with Aston? No upgrades, still miles off. Did they achieve anything during the break? — Greg S.To answer the first question, Adrian Newey remains Aston Martin’s team principal and managing technical partner. He is working and has been at the team’s campus. As for what’s happening with Aston Martin, that’s more complicated, as you can’t correct issues like this overnight.The team left one of its cars in Sakura, Japan — Honda’s engine factory — following the race in Suzuka, allowing the engineers to evaluate the vibration issues further. Shintaro Orihara, Honda’s F1 trackside chief, told reporters in Miami that some countermeasures were applied and that they could “see some good progress on” the vibrations.But would it work? Aston Martin had its answer quite quickly. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll finished the sprint race and grand prix. In the team’s Saturday report, Alonso said, “It’s a relief that the power unit vibration issues have improved, which was a big focus over the break,” noting how gearbox issues did limit him in qualifying.The Miami GP marked the first time Aston Martin had both drivers finish a race this year, giving the team more data to analyze. So, yes, the team did have some success, such as reducing engine vibrations, and the car appears more reliable.It’s a trade-off the team needed to make for the long-run potential, and there are upgrades in the pipeline.“Upcoming races will be a challenge,” Alonso said after the Miami GP. “It will feel repetitive because we will be at the back of the grid, but we have to stick together now with the team and wait for the second part of the year. I think after the summer break, we will bring more upgrades to the car. In the first part of the season, we will not bring any, so we put all our bets on the second half.” — Madeline ColemanDo you think with the upgrades and how they performed in Miami, McLaren has a chance to fight for both championships? — Rafi H.I found it fascinating to hear how positive McLaren team boss Andrea Stella was after the race in Miami, when I sat opposite him in the team’s hospitality unit for his regular Sunday night press briefing.That’s given Norris had just lost a race he really could’ve won — had his pitstop phase gone better. But Stella was chipper.Lots of that will be the confidence bred by McLaren’s success in 2024 and 2025. But it was clear that Stella and McLaren had been boosted by the success of its Miami upgrade package last weekend.McLaren seems to have overtaken Ferrari as Mercedes’ main threat, even as Stella sought to play down expectations and highlight how “it could be that the way we develop our cars suits this circuit, so we will have to see more (circuit types to be certain it really has made progress).”But what further boosts McLaren is that it has more upgrades to come in Montreal, and that what it unleashed in Miami was only a partial, if significant, package of new aerodynamic parts.The flip side — as Stella himself pointed out when he said “because of the upgrades that a large number of teams have delivered here in Miami, we have seen some changes to the competitive picture” — is that Mercedes had only minor upgrades in Miami and still won.The Silver Arrows squad will bring its full first development package to Montreal.But if McLaren makes a net gain in adding downforce and making cars faster around these out-of-sync upgrades, that could be hugely significant for the title fight, given it will surely give Mercedes a regular challenge.Can McLaren win again in 2026? Not right now — it’s still around 0.2 seconds off outright pace and arrived in Miami with an 89-point deficit (now 86). This was largely due to three missed starts from the opening two GPs (Piastri’s Melbourne pre-race crash and the Shanghai double DNS). – Alex Kalinauckas
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri arrive in parc ferme after the Miami Grand Prix (Mark Thompson/Getty Images)The tweaks to the regulations seemed to have made some improvement. What more can be done, and will more be done after a couple more races? — James.The consensus in the paddock is that the regulations adjustments helped, but these were just a step forward, not a final solution. Reducing the harvest limit in qualifying is an example Piastri gave after the Miami GP, adding, “It’s not fixed the problem or all the problems, but it’s helping with one.”Antonelli mentioned that the closing speeds during races remain “massive” and how drivers need to trust the individual defending because “the car is pretty last when you want to change direction” with the active aerodynamics. Norris added, “It’s a small step in the right direction, but it’s not to the level that Formula 1 should still be at yet.”The active aero and energy deployment are two areas that could use some improvement; the latter is already planned to be addressed starting next season. Reliance on electrical energy will be reduced next year, as hardware changes are needed for those systems.The new balance between internal combustion and electrical energy means more fuel will be burned than electrical energy deployed, with the split anticipated to be closer to 60/40 rather than the current 50/50. It’s worth noting that this is simply an agreement in principle at this time. The final proposal will undergo a World Motor Sport Council e-vote once the engine manufacturers vote on the matter, per the FIA.As far as whether more will be done in the coming races, no one has closed the door on any further refinements. Regulation tweaks can be discussed among stakeholders at any time, and, naturally, adjustments are made as more competitive sessions take place in the new regulatory era. But for matters to change this year, it’ll be smaller adjustments compared to fundamental changes like what’s expected for next season, if more conversations take place. — Madeline Coleman
