Mercedes boss Toto Wolff warns Kimi Antonelli about 'killer' F1 rival George Russell

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has warned Andrea Kimi Antonelli that his team-mate George Russell will bounce back in the Formula 1 title race because he is a “killer”.

Antonelli claimed his third consecutive pole position and victory at the Miami Grand Prix, while Russell could only finish fourth on a challenging weekend in which he was clearly outperformed by his teenage Mercedes team-mate.

Russell finished 43 seconds behind the 19-year-old Italian, who has moved 20 points clear at the top of the world championship standings following the opening four races of 2026.

But Wolff has no doubt Russell will bounce back from his current tough run and issued a warning to Antonelli in the process.

"I always said George wouldn't be a grand prix winner if he wasn't a killer,” Wolff said in response to a question from Crash.net.

“And 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 with the track, and did never like the smooth surface, and that's it. Tick the box.

“Tomorrow he's looking forward to Montreal, and it's 18 races to go, many points to score. I don't think this says any relevance from his side to think about what could be at the end of the year.”

Russell, who explained why Antonelli held the edge over him in Miami, insisted he hasn’t “forgotten how to drive” following a tough race on Sunday.

“He’s a fantastic driver, and he’s been exceptionally quick since day one,” Russell said of Antonelli in an interview with Sky Sports F1.

“You don’t win all of the championships as a youngster if you don’t have the speed.

“But I’ve still got the confidence in myself, and I’ve also been there; I’ve not forgotten how to drive.

“It’s just a little bit of a tricky run, but we’re four races down, a long way to go and we’ll reassess things over these next few weeks.”