Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s closest championship rival admits he does not have a realistic chance of beating him to the title this year.
George Russell lies 81 points behind his team mate with 233 available over the remaining rounds. He hasn’t gained on Antonelli since the British Grand Prix two months ago.Russell finished fifth in Sunday’s race at the Madring, almost half a minute behind his race-winning team mate, after making a second pit stop. But after struggling with his car earlier in the season, Russell says recent rounds have gone better.
“It has been a more positive couple of races even though the result was far from great today,” said Russell on Sunday. “But it’s kind of the story of the season.
“I just need to focus on the performance and keep trying to help the team. We’re obviously in a great place to win the constructors’ [championship]. Realistically I’m not in the fight for the drivers and that just allows me just to focus on race-by-race and trying to focus on just getting some good results.”
Russell led the championship after the first two rounds but Antonelli moved ahead at the Japanese Grand Prix. He scored his eighth win on Sunday while Russell only has two victories so far this season.
Antonelli said he will not relent as he bids to clinch the world championship. “It’s great, but we’ve just got to keep pushing, keep delivering the results and just trying to do the best job I can whenever I go on track,” he said.
“Because of course, yes, I have a big lead, but you never know what can happen. So I just need to be ready for anything and keep maximising every opportunity I get, and then we’ll see where we end up at the end of the year.”
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