George Russell the pre season favorite to win the Formula One Drivers Championship is currently sitting in second place 50 points behind Kimi Antonelli. Russell was seen as the senior driver for the Mercedes team and why he was placed as the favorite for the title this season. Mercedes had an engine advantage due to a grey area in the wording around the regulation which has now been addressed. Antonelli is still very young being 19 and very few thought he would dominate the season like he has and obviously he is a very gifted driver.
Impossible To Have Any Sympathy With Someone Who Is Always Complaining
George Russell has been blaming his car and bad luck for not challenging for the drivers title and it looks as though the real difference between Antonelli and himself is the driving skills. Antonelli has been faster in the straights and the corners and if he had not had reliability issues his lead would be far more than 50 points. Russell has gone as far as saying he is looking at trying to change his driving style, but you either have the skills or you do not and what is obvious is he does not.
10 races have been completed with 12 remaining so Hungary next week will be the half way mark and will also signal the mid season break. The Hungaroring which is the name of the track in Hungary is seen as fairly slow and demanding with corners and maintaining your speed through them being as important as the straights.
Russell has tried to talk a big game, but one has to really wonder if the 30 year old actually believes what he is saying. Russell unfortunately is the biggest whiner on track and this season is not going as planned so he is looking for any excuse to blame for his short comings.
Last week at the British Brand Prix Antonelli scored no points when he was leading the race having to stop due to a technical issue with the front wheel arch. Russell finished second which was more about luck than driving skill and he was all smiles again even though his team mate abandoned the race.
Russell has asked his team to look into why Antonelli's car is faster and the team have drawn a blank. The cars should be identical besides how the engineers set the car up for each driver like balance and wing adjustments. Could Antonelli's race engineer Bono who was Hamilton's engineer be the deciding difference?
There are always drivers that will justifiably complain and then you have a Russell who complains about everything unless he is leading. His contract with Mercedes is signed up until the end of the 2027 season and do think if Mercedes replace Russell with Verstappen in 2028 Russell will struggle to find a seat as there are many drivers who are younger and are more talented coming through the ranks.
Russell was the number two driver with Mercedes for so long when Hamilton was dominating Formula One and now in Antonelli's second season Russell is already the number two driver again. I think this maybe frustrating but also embarrassing at the same time because the 30 year old is being schooled by a 19 year old kid. Antonelli is still learning and is on track to winning the Drivers Championship in only his second season and also being the youngest ever Formula One Champion. Russell on the other hand saw this season as his only chance of realistically winning the Formula One title before other teams catch up to the Mercedes car advantage. Russell has been in Formula One for 7 years competing in 161 races and has 7 wins under his belt. Antonelli has already won 6 races this season and could equal Russell's career total of 7 wins next week in Hungary.
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