George Russell admits that his title dream is under threat, not just from his teammate, but his former teammate and Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton has scored in each race thus far, but it is his recent run of podium finishes, including his win at Barcelona, that has brought the seven-time world champion into the game.

Meanwhile, mainly due to reliability issues, Russell has lost ground, and having opened his 2026 account with a win could only watch on as his teammate, Kimi Antonelli claimed five successive victories.

While aware of the threat posed by the Italian teenager, Russell is also fully aware of the other threat coming up on the rails.

"It's great to see Lewis back doing what he does best," the Briton told reporters in Austria today. "That's just an example of how challenging Formula 1 is, because the cars are so complex, the tyres are so complex, the power units are complex, everything needs to click. If one thing isn't clicking, you can't get the most out of yourself and people were writing him off last year, or even the year we were team-mates in '24.

"Is he too old? Is he this? Is he that?" he continued. "And then he goes and he's been smashing it for the last four or five races, it just shows that you don't forget how to drive overnight. You need yourself, your team, the set-up, the understanding of the tyres, everything just to click and when it clicks, you fly. It's beautiful and that's where he is at the moment and for sure, he is a big threat. Ferrari are a huge threat.

"Kimi is still very much the driver out front," he admitted, "and is performing really incredibly and consistently, but Ferrari feel like they're coming and Lewis is at the forefront of that."

Widely regarded as having the best chassis on track, Ferrari is to be among the first to take advantage of the ADUO system and upgrade it engine.

"It's a reality check," admitted the Briton, "because Ferrari have clearly had a great chassis this whole season. Their power unit has been a bit behind us, quite a bit behind us, but suddenly in Barcelona they seem to have made a step forward.

"They were much closer to us in terms of their straight-line speed and they're bringing a lot of upgrades, which has been quite surprising for us. We've brought one upgrade so far. We've got some in the pipeline, but Ferrari and McLaren every couple of races are bringing bits to the car.

"So we need to keep on pushing and I think every time a team is bringing a new bit to the car, they're making big steps forward."