Despite a 50-point deficit to Kimi Antonelli, Martin Brundle believes George Russell remains a serious contender for the world title.
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George Russell approaches the Hungarian Grand Prix in a delicate position in the championship. After his retirement on the first lap at Spa-Francorchamps, the Mercedes driver is now 50 points behind his teammate Kimi Antonelli.
Yet, the season had started perfectly for the Briton. Winner of the opening round in Australia, Russell had quickly established himself as one of the big favorites for the world title.
But since then, setbacks have accumulated.
Mercedes has notably faced several reliability issues, particularly with its power unit, and Russell has paid the price on several occasions, notably in China, Japan, Canada, Monaco, and Belgium.
“He has nothing left to lose”
For Martin Brundle, this series of misfortunes now completely changes Russell’s approach in the championship fight.
The former Formula 1 driver believes the Briton can now race with more freedom.
“I think he has nothing left to lose now. He’s had so much bad luck and has found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time so often.”
Brundle is convinced that Russell has the resources to return to the forefront during the second half of the season.
“I think he’s going to come back very strong. The team will eventually solve its problems.”
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Antonelli impresses with his consistency
While Brundle remains optimistic for Russell, he nevertheless points out that his main adversary is now in his own garage.
Kimi Antonelli already has six victories this season, compared to only two for his teammate, despite also having suffered some reliability issues.
According to Brundle, it is primarily this consistency that makes the difference today.
“George’s biggest problem is that Kimi is incredibly fast and, above all, very consistent. This is the aspect he now needs to work on, because he can’t do anything about the other problems.”
Mercedes still needs to understand its car
Brundle also believes that the Mercedes remains a complex car to fully exploit.
He also uses a comparison recently employed by Russell himself to illustrate this difficulty.
“I think these are very particular cars to understand. George summed it up very well when he explained that it was like a golfer having to learn a whole new swing.”
Even with a significant championship deficit, the former British driver therefore refuses to write off Russell. In his eyes, if Mercedes finally manages to solve its reliability problems, the 28-year-old driver still possesses the necessary qualities to return to the fight for the world title.