George Russell (Mercedes) versus Kimi Antonelli: the Englishman’s new tactic

George Russell secured his eighth Grand Prix victory in his Mercedes on the streets of Baku; his third win of the season (following Australia and Austria) came at just the right time. The 28-year-old Briton must now try to close the gap on championship leader Kimi Antonelli.

In doing so, Russell has achieved a milestone in Azerbaijan, reducing the gap to 66 points – he must keep this up. At the same time, George is trying out a new tactic. Naturally, he is under more pressure himself than his Italian team-mate, but that is precisely where Russell sees things differently.

When asked whether Russell believes he is under less scrutiny than Antonelli, George says: “Yes, definitely. The pressure on me is much less than on him. He’s had an incredibly flawless season. But in Baku, he probably made his first mistake of the entire season when things went a bit wrong.” (Russell is referring to Antonelli’s crash in qualifying, which resulted in 16th on the grid, M.B.).

Russell explains that he has worked very hard over the past few months to get to grips with his car better, “and that work is now starting to bear fruit. Before that, I didn’t really see myself as part of the World Championship battle over several races, simply because my performance just wasn’t strong enough. I feel that if the season had started today or after the summer break, I’d have been able to keep up much better.”

“Well, at the moment I’m a long way off the lead. But that can change quickly. That’s why I’m not chasing it. I’m simply trying to win every race, and we’ll see how things pan out from there.”

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