George Russell has been urged to remain calm if his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli beats him again at the upcoming Miami Grand Prix.
Russell has found himself trailing his young Italian team-mate by nine points after the first three rounds of the season. While the Briton remains a favourite for the title, Antonelli is clearly posing a threat.
The 28-year-old driver started the season off on a high, winning the Australian Grand Prix and Chinese sprint race, but issues during qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix and an unfortunately timed safety car at the Japanese Grand Prix gave Antonelli the opportunity to claim crucial points.
Heading into the Miami Grand Prix, former IndyCar driver and F1 TV presenter James Hinchcliffe has argued that Russell should not panic if Antonelli beats him at the Miami International Autodrome.
“He does, but I don’t think it’s quite as pressing time-wise as people are making it seem,” Hinchcliffe explained on the F1 Nation Podcast when asked how important it is for Russell to turn things around.
“We’re in round four. There’s a lot of racing to go. Just look back at last year after the summer break, you had a 34-point deficit between Piastri and Norris. And by Mexico, Norris had taken the championship lead back. So, a nine-point gap in Miami, I don’t think should stress anybody out.
George Russell, Mercedes
“Yes, you don’t want Kimi getting too much confidence. You don’t want him winning in every type of circuit and getting on too much of a roll. But even if, like Piastri had that string of tracks that didn’t suit him particularly well in the latter part of last year, and it added to the drop in performance right as Norris was peaking. If Kimi is particularly good at Miami, fine.
“Is he going to be good at Montreal? We don’t know. He did OK there last year. But so did George. He did better. So even if Miami goes Kimi’s way, I don’t think it should be panic in the Russell camp.
“I think they just need to, more than anything, stay cool, stay calm, do what he does. He’s been driving so well all of last year, start of this year.
“Everything Kimi has done well, he has done very well, but there have been little asterisks beside both China and Japan. So, if I’m Russell, I’m trying really hard not to panic because he and the team are doing great. They just need to focus and not let the success Kimi’s having get to them.”
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