Pushed back to 66 points behind Kimi Antonelli after Monza, George Russell acknowledges that overturning his teammate will be extremely complicated. The Brit now prefers to think about wins rather than the championship.
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George Russell seems to have considerably revised his championship ambitions after the Italian Grand Prix. Beaten by Kimi Antonelli at Monza when an ideal opportunity seemed to present itself to reduce his gap, the Brit now trails his teammate by 66 points in the standings.
Russell nevertheless refuses to officially talk about giving up the title fight. His approach is now much simpler: forget the calculations, take the races one by one, and try to maximize every weekend. A philosophy that nevertheless reflects the difficulty of his situation against an Antonelli who continues to increase his lead.
A missed opportunity at Monza
The Italian weekend nevertheless seemed able to relaunch Russell in the championship fight. Antonelli had been sent to 19th on the grid due to penalties related to his engine replacement, while Russell started from second position.
But the Italian made a spectacular comeback in front of his home crowd. After quickly getting rid of several rivals, he returned to the front and eventually found himself able to contest the victory with his teammate.
Thanks to fresher tires in the last laps, Antonelli managed to overtake Russell and claim his seventh win of the season. Instead of reducing his gap, the Brit saw the difference increase to 66 points.
“Kimi controls the situation”
Russell does not seek to downplay his teammate’s performances. On the contrary, he considers that Antonelli fully deserves to be in such a favorable position in the championship after regularly taking the lead since the start of the season.
“Kimi clearly controls the situation and he deserves to be in this position. Personally, I don’t even think about a title battle or a possible comeback.”
Rather than constantly monitoring the points gap, Russell now wants to focus his attention on his own performances.
“I simply focus on each race, one after the other, trying to absolutely maximize every weekend.”
An approach that also allows him to relieve some of the pressure related to the championship while several races remain to be contested.
An “extremely difficult” gap to close
Antonelli has regularly outperformed Russell this season and has gradually built a significant lead. His win at Monza, achieved despite starting 19th on the grid, further reinforced his status as the big favorite for the title.
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Russell no longer hides the magnitude of the task ahead if he wants to reverse the trend.
“He delivers incredible performances. Closing this gap is going to be extremely difficult.”
The Brit thus seems to have accepted that his destiny in the championship is no longer entirely in his hands. Even a series of very good results might not be enough if Antonelli continues to show the same level of consistency.
“I simply accept the situation as it is. From now on, I will try to enjoy it and win as many races as possible.”
Russell now wants to accumulate wins
This new approach obviously does not mean that Russell gives up fighting with his teammate. On the contrary, he wants to take advantage of every opportunity to win, without letting championship calculations influence how he approaches the upcoming Grands Prix.
The Brit has also regained excellent momentum since the summer break. After a difficult period before the summer, he won the sprint race at Zandvoort, finished third in the Dutch Grand Prix, then second at Monza.
The problem for Russell is that Antonelli also continues to accumulate strong results. Even when the Italian seemed doomed to limit the damage starting 19th at Monza, he ultimately managed to turn his weekend into a victory.
Antonelli now master of his destiny
With a 66-point lead, Antonelli now has a comfortable margin. Russell remains his main rival, but the Brit knows he will probably have to string together wins while hoping for several less favorable results from his teammate to really relaunch the championship.
Rather than fixating on this goal as an obsession, he prefers to focus on what he can still control: his own performances and the winning opportunities that will arise.
Russell does not mathematically give up the title fight, but his discourse has clearly evolved after Monza. Facing an Antonelli he himself judges exceptional and now firmly established in the lead, the Brit no longer wants to think about an unlikely comeback: his goal is simply to win as many races as possible until the end of the season.
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