George Russell Named the Closest Challenger to Max Verstappen in 2026 Title Odds

Mercedes was rumored to be at the forefront of the power unit development for the new regulations in the 2026 season. Meanwhile, Red Bull will work alongside Ford for their own engines, which might prove to be a massive challenge for them.

Max Verstappen has still performed well despite the difficulties and certainly will be a dominant force in the coming season. However, George Russell will be the one to look out for as he could put up a worthy fight if provided with the right car.

With the commencement of the 2026 season just a few weeks away, the bookmakers have delivered their verdict on the drivers to look out for. Max Verstappen is unequivocally at the front of these predictions and is the people’s favorite to win the championship in the coming season. According to Skybet, Verstappen has odds of around 29%, voted by the people, to dominate the new regulations.

Though Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri were thought to come in second according to the odds, it was George Russell who made a shocking appearance. The bookmakers believe in Russell to perform well under the new regulations, more so if Mercedes nails them. The Briton has an implied probability of around 26.67% to put up a good fight against Max Verstappen for the title win.

Though this list is merely the faith put up in the drivers by the bookmakers, many people will resonate with these standings. Lando Norris isn’t the people’s favorite after all and is hated by many fans over the race weekends.

Among the other usual contenders with their odds to put up a title fight, Lewis Hamilton was surprisingly favored by only around 3% of odds to win the championship battle in the coming season, following his nightmare debut with Ferrari.

The 2026 season still hasn’t begun yet, and the clear picture will be visible only after a couple of races. Regardless, the new regulations seem very exciting so far and will hopefully improve racing action and the overall safety of the drivers.

George Russell does not fully ‘believe’ in Mercedes’ dominance in 2026

The 2026 regulations are still afresh, and none of the teams are clearly the title favorites from the get-go. Though Mercedes is rumored to be capable of winning under the new regulations, they might need some time as well. As such, despite George Russell’s promising performances in recent years, he isn’t fully confident in Brackley’s chances of dominating in the upcoming season.

George Russell candidly highlighted that he would be crazy if he put all his money on Mercedes winning under the 2026 regulations. Russell reckoned that the new regulations were somewhat similar to the team’s domination back in 2014 and might turn out to be fruitful for them.

Regardless, the Briton noted that he was happy with the regulations change as the ground-effect era wasn’t understood perfectly by any of the teams, even McLaren.

I would be crazy to say that I put all my money on Mercedes. The aerodynamic rules for next year are more similar to those of the previous era (from 2014, ed.), then Mercedes the field dominated. We are happy that the rules are changing. Nobody understood this generation of cars one hundred percent. Not even McLaren.

George Russell told Auto Motor und Spor.

Certainly, it will be exciting to witness which team turns out to be the front-runners under the new regulations. Max Verstappen will definitely be an indomitable force and keep up with great results despite the difficulties. For now, everyone is enjoying the winter break before returning to the grid in a few weeks.

Read More: Max Verstappen Reveals Secret Contact with Sacked Red Bull Boss Christian Horner

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