George Russell: Mercedes driver says Kimi Antonelli deserves to lead F1 title fight and ‘I need to get better’ | F1 News

George Russell admits he needs to get better if he wants to stay in title contention this season.

After starting the season as clear title favourite, Russell has been stunned by the pace of his teenage Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli and trails the Italian by 25 points at the top of the standings after nine rounds.

While Russell has suffered a number of moments of great misfortune, Antonelli has also had bad luck in recent weeks, retiring with engine failure at Barcelona and then falling out of points from a possible victory in Sunday’s British Grand Prix after another technical problem.

Despite a lack of pace over the weekend, Russell benefited from crashes and errors from rivals to finish second at Silverstone, 18 points ahead of Antonelli.

Russell said: “The feeling (of the car) was good, but the lap times were slow. And like I said, there were things out of my control that contributed a lot to that and things that were in my control.

“I’m still struggling to understand this car. I’ll probably still go this weekend, although very grateful to stand on the podium, I was less satisfied than in Canada, when I crashed out of the lead.

“And if I want to fight for the championship, the performance has to be better. I have to be better. I have to work better with my team. We have to maximize everything.”

Mercedes’ technical problems have allowed Lewis Hamilton to stay within striking distance, after finishing third at Silverstone, just seven points behind seven-time world champion Russell.

Russell added: “We’ve had a close fight with Ferrari now, so it’s not just Kimi and I, Lewis is still very close. It needs to be improved.”

A first win of the season for Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc also helped Ferrari reduce their deficit to 78 points at the top of the constructors’ championship with Mercedes, but Russell insisted he should focus on himself rather than threaten the Italian team.

“Honestly I don’t even think about it, because I have my own things that I have to deal with and improve on,” he said.

“I was 68 points back in Monaco three races ago and I’m 25 points back here. So yes, I’ll take it, but it won’t go on forever until the results, the performance, are good.”

‘Antonelli deserves to be ahead of me’

Russell also admitted that Antonelli has done “a good job” so far this season to earn his championship lead.

Earlier in the year, Russell repeatedly suggested that his points deficit to Antonelli was down to luck, but the Italian’s greater pace in recent weeks seems to have changed the Briton’s perception.

The Mercedes pair each had race-ending engine failures, while Russell was hampered by technical problems in Chinese Grand Prix qualifying and also lost points in Monaco due to a controversial penalty for pit-lane speeding.

Antonelli enjoyed a clean campaign until Barcelona, ​​when his engine failed while passing Russell for second place. Then, on Sunday, he appeared to be chasing Leclerc to victory when a wheel-guard broke on his car.

On whether he thinks Antonelli’s recent misfortune has tipped the balance between the pair, Russell said: “Whether the luck is balanced, I’m not sure.

“However, based on my performance and his performance during those nine races, I think a 25-point gap is probably right for him.

“He’s done better than me at this point this year, so he deserves to be ahead of me.

“Whether it should be 25 points, whether it should be 10 points, whether it should be 35 points is a debate, but within that ballpark… I obviously lost 15 points with the drive-through penalty in Monaco. I think it’s probably fair to be 10 to 30 points behind.”

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