George Russell says he “doesn’t feel lost any more” as he seeks to end a difficult season on a high and chase down team-mate Kimi Antonelli’s championship lead.

Russell won his third race of the season in Azerbaijan last weekend, and his first for three months, and says he has made a breakthrough in terms of understanding how to drive the Mercedes car.

The Briton trails Antonelli by 66 points in the championship with either seven or eight races still remaining.

“The thing that’s changed is I feel my performances are strong enough to fight for victory week in week out,” Russell said.

“I know what I need from the car and myself and I don’t really feel lost any more.

“Confidence is back and it’s growing again and it’s all coming a bit more naturally, which is how it has been for most of my career and not how it’s been for most of the season.”

Mercedes are expecting a strong challenge from McLaren at the flowing Sepang track this weekend as its characteristics should suit the world champions’ car.

But the team have their first major upgrade for some time and hope that will bring them into contention.

Asked whether another strong performance at this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia could change the psychology of the title fight, Russell said: “I’ve never really felt in a position to fight for the victories because my performances weren’t strong enough.

“But now finally I feel I’m in a place I can fight for victory week in week out.

“Of course there is a big deficit in the championship, but there is a third of a season to go and still so much can happen. I am just going to go race by race. I feel more at one with the car and hopefully this upgrade will play into my favour a bit more. So bring it on.”

Russell started the season as championship favourite but Antonelli took control early on as Russell struggled to get to grips with the Mercedes designed for this year’s all-new car and engine rules.

He has had to “consciously adjust” his driving style.

“I went through a few races where I was having to think how to make those adjustments, whereas now it’s all just a bit more intuitive and a bit more natural,” Russell said.

“So what I set out to achieve, in terms of getting the car [into] a slightly better window, I’m now achieving without having to think about it as much. So I can just focus on driving fast.”

Antonelli had a difficult weekend in Baku, with a crash in qualifying leaving him 16th on the grid, from where he recovered to finished fifth.

The Italian said: “Last weekend was probably there worst weekend from me of the season.

“But still good learning from the weekend and was also a very strange race for me in Baku because it was one of those races where I consciously tried not to take any risks and just drive under the limit which was very weird but it was what I needed on Sunday. I needed a clean result after a very disrupted weekend.

“I wasn’t happy after the race but I learned the most important learning was I need to be always 100% because if I don’t try to do everything right in my power then nothing is going to come my way.”

Lewis Hamilton has declared Frederic Vasseur as “the guy to lead us” two days after Ferrari made an unusual public statement backing their team principal after speculation over this position.

The seven-time champion, who is third in the drivers’ title race while Ferrari are second in the constructors’ battle, said removing Vasseur would be a mistake.

“He’s doing a fantastic job,” Hamilton said. If you look at the history, how many people [have been swapped] out [of] that role… and I feel like it’s in a better place than it’s been before.

“But it’s not a one-man situation. It’s lots and lots of people coming together and if you want to point fingers, point it somewhere else. There’s people above who are also part of it.

“Fred’s in his position, he’s not going anywhere and I’m here to stay with him and I still believe fully in where we’re going.

“Swapping him out won’t change how the team is moving forward. If anything it will be detrimental.”

Hamilton pointed to the progress Ferrari have made since a winless 2025 season, in which they finished fourth in the teams’ championship. He and Leclerc have each won a race this year.

Ferrari started the season with the best chassis in terms of cornering performance, but their engine has fallen short of those produced by Mercedes and Red Bull.

Hamilton said: “We’re second in the championship, a huge improvement on last year already. And that’s with a deficit on power of average 0.4secs [per lap] every single weekend. Some races it’s 0.6sec and we’ve still be delivering really great performances.

“And that just highlights how great a job people at the factory have done. All the negativity takes away from that.

“Of course we’re not where we want to be but you don’t go from last year’s experience straight to number one. It’s a process and I think we’ve built a good foundation this year, we need to continue to build on it. We’re not perfect yet but I do believe we can get there.

I think we’ve had the best car this year. But it’s unfortunate we have been down 0.4secs on power. That is difficult overcome but it’s something we’re working on for next year.”