Patrese is blunt: “Russell always has excuses – that’s no champion”

19-year-old Kimi Antonelli has pipped the experienced George Russell to the post at Mercedes. This comes as no surprise to long-serving Formula 1 driver Riccardo Patrese.

The driver, who has competed in 256 Grand Prix races (six wins, runner-up in the 1992 World Championship behind Nigel Mansell), delivers a scathing verdict on the New Betting Sites portal: “George Russell always has excuses when things aren’t going well; that’s not the mindset of a champion.”

Riccardo Patrese

Foto: XPB

For 72-year-old Patrese, the best example is the recent race in Belgium: “A disastrous outing for Russell because he was in the wrong place. Lewis received a penalty for the collision, but as Lewis said – it was a racing incident. George simply positioned his car wrongly at Les Combes.”

“Hamilton couldn’t exactly just vanish into thin air in that situation. The contact was provoked because Russell was in the wrong place, and especially on the first lap and as a title contender, you simply have to be a bit more careful there. George Russell put himself in a dangerous position unnecessarily, and he paid a high price for it.”

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“Russell is currently in a frame of mind where he clearly thinks the odds are stacked against him. But that naturally only makes his performances even worse. When you fall into that mindset where you think everything is against you, you’re automatically not at your best.”

“If Russell were to lift his spirits, he could probably drive faster. But he really does always think that something is working against him. And he’s always trying to find excuses, and that’s simply not the mindset you should have if you want to fight for the world championship title.”

“Russell certainly has the car to have a say in the title race. I reckon his mood is probably down to Kimi, who seems to feel exactly the opposite – he appears over the moon and grows more confident with every success. We have two very different mindsets here, and that makes the gap between the two drivers even more striking.”