Anthony Davidson tells Sky Sports F1 that George Russell remains his 2026 championship pick over rookie team-mate Kimi Antonelli, while David Croft warns against piling title pressure on an 18-year-old still learning the trade.
Kimi Antonelli's second Grand Prix win in China has lit a fuse on Mercedes' internal title debate, but on Sky Sports F1, Anthony Davidson is unmoved on the pecking order — for now.
The former F1 driver and current pundit said he was floored by the 18-year-old's composure across the opening rounds, and particularly by his recovery in Australia, where Antonelli walked away from a heavy FP3 shunt and still put his W17 second on the grid.
"I was so impressed with the way he handled himself that weekend," Davidson said. "And actually in Australia, looking back to his massive crash he had in FP3, picked himself up, dusted himself off before qualifying, put the car on second on the grid. And I know, yes, they're in the best car at the moment, but you still have to do it. You still have to mentally carry on with that pressure."
The China weekend, by his own description, took the conversation up a level.
"In China, he was sublime. He really was. He had the speed to match George," Davidson said. "I was half-expecting George to kind of carry on catching him through the race once he'd overtaken the Ferraris. I thought he would just carry on steadily catching him — and that's testament to Kimi's speed and the mental strength he has to cope with that amount of pressure from George."
And yet, when pushed on who he would pick to win the 2026 drivers' title, Davidson stayed with the senior driver.
"I would class him still as championship favourite just because he's further down the line in his career path," Davidson said of Russell. "He looks like a champion in waiting already for me. He's got the car to do it. He's got the absolute commitment."
It's a verdict grounded in what 2025 told us about the No. 63 car. Russell was the only driver on the grid to take the chequered flag in every single race last season — the kind of mileage that, in a rookie-versus-veteran title fight, is its own form of pace.
David Croft, in studio alongside Davidson, took the harder line on the wider narrative. With internet bookmakers and social media already rebadging Antonelli as a championship contender, Croft pushed back hard.
"I can't believe you are assuming — I can't believe you're putting pressure on Kimi for the title right now," Croft said. "Nobody should be putting him under that sort of pressure. Championships are won over the course of 22 rounds, potentially this year. Consistency. He's up against the only driver last year who got to the chequered flag at every single race. And George, as Anthony said, he's on top of his game. But he will keep George very honest throughout this season."
That last line is the one that lands. Croft isn't dismissing Antonelli — he is making the case that the rookie's value to Mercedes in 2026 is to push Russell, not to overtake him in the standings just yet.
The context behind both sets of comments is now well-established. Antonelli is the youngest pole-sitter in Formula 1 history, won twice in his first three starts, and is being benchmarked against Max Verstappen's early-career trajectory inside Toto Wolff's office. Russell is in his seventh F1 season, has just signed a long-term Mercedes extension, and has now finished above his teammate at one of the two events he hasn't won.
If Davidson is right, the title fight at Brackley is Russell's to lose. If Croft is right, the bigger danger is the paddock losing patience with what Antonelli is being asked to be.
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*Originally published on [NewsFormula One](https://newsformula.one/article/anthony-davidson-russell-favourite-antonelli-pressure-warning-croft-mercedes-2026). Visit for full coverage.*