Canadian Grand Prix: George Russell says F1 world championship Kimi Antonelli must lose after Mercedes team-mate’s latest win | F1 News

George Russell says the Formula 1 world championship is now Kimi Antonelli’s to lose as his Mercedes team-mate benefited from the Briton’s retirement in Canada to open up a 43-point lead after five rounds.

Russell and Antonelli were involved in a thrilling battle for first place at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday – until the former suffered power unit problems at turn 30 while leading.

Antonelli went on to secure his fourth consecutive Grand Prix win after victories in China, Japan and Miami.

Russell, who won the opening race of the season in Australia, will look to reduce Antonelli’s lead at the Monaco Grand Prix on June 7.

He said sky is italy: “Now it looks like it (Antonelli’s championship) is lost.”

Russell added Sky Sports F1: “I’m proud of my weekend. Pole in the sprint, won the sprint, pole in qualifying, I was leading when I stopped. I had a good fight with Kimi.

“I don’t think I could have done more this weekend. I’ll be satisfied. I’m very disappointed with what happened but what else can I do?”

Russell: I can’t seem to catch a break!

Russell – who insists he enjoyed his sparring with Antonelli, saying it reminded him of his old karting days – feels he currently lacks “lady luck” in his rivalry with the Italian.

The 28-year-old noted:

– The deployment of a safety car at the Japanese Grand Prix which gave Antonelli a cheap pit stop and gave him the lead over Russell.

– Russell suffered a problem in Q3 at the Chinese Grand Prix which limited him to just one run in the final part of qualifying.

– A red flag in Q1 at the Australian Grand Prix gave Mercedes more time to fix the car Antonelli crashed in practice, allowing the 19-year-old to post a lap and eventually qualify second behind Russell.

Russell added: “I can’t catch a break!

“I would have liked to have been in Miami when I was sixth, not in Montreal. Or the Japanese safety car coming out a lap before doing it.

“(There was) failure to qualify in China. Even in Melbourne, if it wasn’t for that red flag in Q1, Kimi would have started at the end. Nothing is going my way at the moment.

“I don’t wish bad luck on anybody. I just want to fight hard and fight fair. We have an equal chance but right now lady luck is not on my side.”

Antonelli is determined to ‘raise the bar’

Speaking after his win, championship leader Antonelli said he was determined to “raise the bar” as he looked to fend off challenges from Russell and the chasing pack.

Antonelli said: “I’m not thinking about the championship. I think it’s still very, very early to talk about it. I’m just focusing on the race.

“The (points) gap doesn’t mean I can relax and take it easy. Instead, I have to raise the bar because it’s not going to be easy. The competitors are getting closer.

“Also, George is super, super fast. So of course I’ll just focus on myself, enjoy driving and try to drive as fast as possible.”

Wolff ‘Half Enjoyed’ Antonelli-Russell Feud

Russell and Antonelli’s gripping duel took place during Russell’s victory in Saturday’s sprint, a melee that ultimately allowed McLaren’s Lando Norris to split the two Mercedes in that short race.

Antonelli later said he and Russell had been told they could compete with each other but “smarter” it in the future, so how did team principal Toto Wolff see Sunday’s battle?

Austrian said Sky Sports F1: “We half enjoyed seeing how they fought.

“Every time we thought about saying, ‘We’ve had enough for this moment’, the next two laps were fast again.

“As long as we maintained that gap, it looked OK, but it obviously could have gone wrong. If it was behind us, we would have jumped.”

Then F1’s European summer swing begins, with the Monaco Grand Prix the first of six races in eight weeks. Watch live on Sky Sports F1 from 5-7 June. Stream Sky Sports now.