Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says George Russell “won’t leave a stone unturned” in Formula 1’s title race and expects his driver to bounce back at the next race in Montreal.
Russell is 20 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli after a disappointing weekend in Miami, where he lacked the pace of his younger Mercedes team-mate, who won the race to make it three victories in a row.
The British driver put his deficit to Antonelli in Miami down to the low-grip track surface, but will need to change the momentum of the title race at the Canadian Grand Prix – an event he won last year.
“George is a killer. What makes him so good is he never stops fighting or attacking,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1.
“I’ve seen him throughout his career in junior formulas and karting and here (in F1). He’s going for this and won’t leave a stone unturned.
“I have no doubt the two of them will fight for points throughout the season.”
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Speaking on the F1 Show podcast, David Croft issued a warning to George Russell that if he doesn’t beat team-mate Kimi Antonelli in Canada, ‘alarm bells will be ringing’.
Russell has six more years of F1 experience compared to Antonelli and Wolff thinks the 28-year-old won’t be impacted mentally by seeing his team-mate win the last three races.
“These things, he analyses them, looks at the data, comes to his conclusions, and the conclusion is that he’s never been quite at ease on this track, and he never liked the smooth surface,” he said.
“That’s it. Tick the box. He’s looking forward to Montreal.
“I don’t think there’s any relevance from the side to think about what would be at the end of the year.”
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Following a disappointing result at the Miami Grand Prix, Mercedes’ George Russell says the ‘real test’ will be in the next few races
Russell: I’m not considering the championship
Russell made his F1 debut in 2019 with Williams before joining Mercedes in 2022 and outperformed Lewis Hamilton over their three seasons together as team-mates.
However, he has not been in an F1 title fight until this year but insists he has no concerns about the title race with 18 rounds remaining.
“Clearly he [Antonelli] is in a very good place at the moment and momentum is with him. But, having got enough experience myself in championships I’ve won and how momentum swings throughout the year, and looking at the championship last year, to be honest, I’m not even considering it,” he said.
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Kimi Antonelli reflects on a chaotic Miami Grand Prix, in which the Italian lost the lead on the opening lap but later reclaimed it to win his third race of the season
“It’s just that I want to get back on to the top step of the podium. The first three races, I had the performance to do that, but this weekend I absolutely did not have the performance to do that.
“So, I could be standing here now with three very different results in previous races, with this one [Miami] being a bit of a one-off, but obviously things worked out differently in Japan and China, but that’s Formula 1 sometimes.”
Formula 1 next heads to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix and another Sprint weekend. Watch live on Sky Sports F1 on May 22-24. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
