George Russell's claim that a driving style difference is at the heart of his increasing struggles relative to Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Kimi Antonelli points in a clear direction: tyres.

Russell alluded to that himself. He talked about "something in my driving style that's not helping the car at the moment", in contrast to "playing into [Antonelli's] hands perfectly well", adding that "the difference is how we're driving has such an impact on the tyres". So what does he mean?

Traditionally, Russell's technique is one of high-commitment smoothness. He's tended towards the 'don't brake later, brake less' style, braking early, stabilising the car and carrying tremendous speed into the corner. Doing that - keeping the platform relatively stable while still being able to deal with instability on turn-in and keeping up the momentum - worked spectacularly with the ground-effect era machinery, and the generation before that.

Typically, his set-up focus was ensuring he had the through-corner balance he wanted. The initial steering is progressive, loading the car up, sometimes with a secondary movement to refine the entry phase as the speed comes down. After that, the mid-corner usually takes care of itself as he likes to use the responsiveness of the car to set up the rotation, although if he carries too much speed in he will often correct mid-corner.

When that is working, he carries decent speed but usually prodigious exit speed. Trading off a little mid-corner speed for strong exits has been part of his evolution during the Mercedes years. At his best - as he consistently was last year - he's deceptively fast, as economy and smoothness should not be mistaken for conservatism.

One area where his way of driving might not play to the 2026 cars is that he's sometimes struggled a little on lower-grip tracks. You could say he has a touch of the Oscar Piastri in terms of not being at his best when having to deal with microslides when the car is constantly moving about.

He's not a high-sensitivity driver in terms of steering inputs, or one who uses large amounts of braking/steering overlap, which often works best when the car is constantly having these tiny slides on lower-grip surfaces. High-commitment into a corner is a strength, but if the confidence isn't there then he struggles with that. His Miami struggles showcased that, while it's reasonable to assume that the lower-downforce 2026 cars mean that he's having to deal with more microslides than before.

However, anyone watching Russell in Monaco might not have recognised him. He was being the more spectacular, and not in a good way, of the Mercedes drivers with the car moving around, more moments when the rear steps out, and generally working harder at the wheel.

The lower downforce plays a part in that, but so too does the way he loads the tyres, which has also made it harder for him to get the Pirellis in the right window over a lap. In fact, being not completely at ease with these small slides can also compromise your tyre management.

Russell may be smooth, but the peak loads he puts through the tyre are often higher than many others. In that turn-in phase, he asks a lot of the rears in particular. When the front tyres aren't up to temperature, he will struggle, and there were times when that was a problem during the Monaco weekend and throughout the Canada weekend.

However, get the fronts in, as he appeared to do for his fastest qualifying lap in Monaco when he was actually marginally faster than Antonelli through Ste Devote but then lost time elsewhere, and he can overload the rears as a result. And with a little less downforce at the rear, that means more sliding, which costs him time, and overheating, which costs even more.

The shorthand characterisation of Antonelli's driving style is that he's aggressive, and it's a fair one. The first time I had the chance to watch him trackside for an extended period of time in pre-season testing in Bahrain last year (he'd made a good impression from the first chicane at Monza the previous season but only came past quickly twice before his crash) that was clear.

But while his inputs are plentiful, they are also usually subtle and precise. This is not ragged, reactive aggression, but all about carrying speed through the ability to make constant tiny corrections - ideal for dealing with microslides and well-suited to getting the best out of the low-downforce cars. He's confident to commit even when he's not certain about the grip and has the sensitivity to feel the car through the corner and adjust accordingly.

That doesn't mean that the change in cars has turned him from a good driver into a great one. Last year, he was making progress rapidly but his mid-season slump was triggered by the Mercedes development misstep with a rear suspension modification that was later binned.

Antonelli's own estimation was that this cost him three months, and even then late in the season he put in a strong performance throughout the Interlagos weekend, which was the first when he was conclusively faster than his team-mate throughout. Yes, Russell took his first win at Interlagos in 2022, but it's one of his weaker tracks. And Antonelli's strengths shone through.

Imagine where he'd have got to last year without those wasted months; map that onto the step he's made this year and it all makes more sense.

And when it comes to the tyres, which Antonelli managed to get in a good window throughout his Monaco pole lap - not fastest in any sector, but second quickest in all three - his style works well. His peak loads don't have so high a ceiling, working with the car rather than trying to dominate it as Russell does at corner entry, but his more aggressive approach can also help to energise the front tyres when they need it without necessarily paying the price with the rears as Russell does.

So does this mean Antonelli has won the battle and Russell is doomed to number two status? Not necessarily. Antonelli is a mightily quick driver, and it's very possible he might have a pace ceiling that's higher than that of Russell. But that's not been conclusively proven yet.

The change of regulations hasn't made Antonelli a faster driver fundamentally, as there's a confluence of factors that mean he was always going to be stronger this year and a big threat to Russell even if the regulations hadn't changed. But it's clear Russell has identified where he's lacking, which is key if he's to have any chance of fighting back.

What's critical is that Russell does not convince himself the prevailing conditions are tipping the scales in Antonelli's favour, or that there's favouritism in the team. He wants to be world champion, and to do that you will need to be adaptable and face up to the challenge of other outstanding drivers.

But he must also not attempt to rewire himself or exaggerate the challenge. He's been fast in these cars, he found a way in both qualifying sessions in Montreal to eclipse Antonelli, and there has also been misfortune this season that has exaggerated the points gap (which is 68 points as it stands). However, the fact remains that in both Miami and Monaco, Antonelli was by a convincing margin the stronger Mercedes driver.

Russell must remember his strengths, work to get the car and the tyres in the window he wants and then, just as he has been consistently through his F1 career, he will be extremely quick. It's a case of small changes and chipping away at the weaknesses, and you could argue that the high-speed-aero-dependent and flowing sweeps of Barcelona this weekend are the ideal place to get back to his best.

The first challenge is to do that, because if he doesn't soon then his title challenge will wilt. The second challenge is Antonelli, because even for Russell at his best he will be a handful.

Russell, and the watching world, would do well not to underestimate both how good Antonelli already is and the potential that remains to be fulfilled. His first season may not have been the great rookie campaign many expected, but we're seeing the real Antonelli in the second - and he's only getting stronger.