George Russell baffled by Max Verstappen F1 turnaround: ‘It’s a funny sport’

George Russell says he’s “struggling to comprehend” Max Verstappen’s Italian Grand Prix domination, calling F1 “a funny sport”.

Verstappen returned to winning ways with a commanding drive at Monza, beating Lando Norris by over 19 seconds.

The four-time world champion was forced to give up the lead on Lap 2, lifting off to let Norris through after their aggressive duel into the first corner on the opening lap.

Verstappen was able to build up a significant lead.

His advantage was nearly 20 seconds as McLaren gambled on a late Safety Car and thus opted for a sub-optimal strategy.

It’s a dramatic return to form for Verstappen and Red Bull.

Before the summer break in Hungary, Verstappen finished a lowly ninth, well behind the top three teams.

When speaking to Sky Sports after the race, Russell couldn’t understand Red Bull’s return to form.

“It’s a fair assessment. It’s a bit of a funny sport,” he said. “I am struggling to comprehend how Verstappen can be 40 seconds off the win and Bahrain, and then win by 20 seconds here and at Imola. It’s pretty impressive.

“I don’t know what’s going to come in the coming races. I hope that we can fight for podiums more regularly. The Ferrari has taken a bit of a step since the start of the season. It’s not straightforward.”

Russell feels he could have finished one place higher had he been allowed to qualify on the mediums.

Mercedes ignored his request to run on the harder rubber, despite showing impressive pace in Q1 on the yellow-marked tyre.

“I was confident I would have qualified ahead of the Ferraris,” Russell added.

“Probably could have been one position higher. Realistically, McLaren had a suboptimal strategy to beat McLaren. They probably would have done something different to get ahead of me. P5 is just where we are right now.”

Positives for Antonelli despite penalty

Kimi Antonelli finished ninth, losing one place at the end of the race due to a five-second time penalty.

The Italian is hopeful for a clean weekend at the next race in Baku after another incident in practice affected his weekend.

“I just went a bit deep with the clutch and got wheel spin straightaway,” Antonelli explained. I just lost many places. That compromised the race as I found myself having to chase.

“It was not ideal but also on the mediums, I struggled a little bit. I did a few mistakes. I just need to understand why and just work on to the next one.

“Well definitely qualifying was a step forward. It’s been a bit of a weak point in the past few races but I didn’t do a proper long run. That didn’t help. Definitely, learning and just need to have a proper clean weekend in order to be able to build for qualifying and the race.”