George Russell speaks plainly: “I’m no longer in the fight for the Drivers’ Championship”

George Russell finished fifth in the Spanish Grand Prix, once again finishing well behind his team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who won the race. The 20-year-old Italian thus put a further 15 points between himself and Russell. The Briton is now 81 points behind. To put that into perspective: 75 points would equate to three wins for Russell whilst Antonelli scored zero. Not even that would be enough. Russell’s comments after the Spanish Grand Prix were consequently both clear and sombre.

How is George Russell looking ahead to the next races following the disappointing weekend in Madrid? The Mercedes driver said: “Just carry on. There have been a few more positive races, even if today’s result was far from great. But that’s how this season has been to some extent. I just have to focus on performance and try to help the team.”

“Realistically speaking, I’m not in the running for the Drivers’ Championship”

And then Russell’s statement becomes surprisingly clear: “We’re obviously in a great position to win the Constructors’ Championship. Realistically speaking, I’m no longer in the fight for the Drivers’ Championship. That allows me to focus on each race individually.” Realistically speaking, no longer in the fight for the Drivers’ Championship? Russell hadn’t put it quite so bluntly before. Officially, there are still nine races to go; realistically, eight, given the situation in the Middle East. A maximum of 233 points are still up for grabs (across 9 Grands Prix and one sprint race), or 208 in an 8-Grand-Prix scenario.

Looking ahead to Madrid: would a different strategy have helped Russell in the race? Over the radio, he’d questioned the strategy (two stops). Russell after the race: “At the time, I did question it. But the hard tyres were by far the better choice. Perhaps I could have stayed out with Leclerc, but I’d still have finished behind him. Perhaps I wouldn’t have been able to switch back to the hard tyres at the end either, but anything I could have done would have put us back in the same position. You simply can’t overtake on this circuit. It’s a real shame!”

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