Kimi Antonelli ‘ready to fight’ after repaying George Russell's favour

Kimi Antonelli is "ready to fight" after the early part of his Monza weekend was focused on assisting Mercedes team-mate George Russell. 

The Italian arrived at his home grand prix knowing that he would take a back-of-the-grid penalty for making a planned engine change, which would take him beyond the prescribed limit for the season. 

After Russell moved aside to allow his team-mate to chase down Lando Norris in Zandvoort last time out, the positions were reversed this time around, as Antonelli took on a supporting role in qualifying, providing a tow in a bid to get a Mercedes on pole position. 
 

While Pierre Gasly's shock performance meant Russell could manage only second place, Antonelli is now laser-focused on his own recovery drive. 

"It's a very, very weird feeling," he said. "But I had to do my job, which was to help George, and I tried my best to help as much as possible.

"Q3 was very weird, even the lap I did. It was an okay lap, but nothing special, because I had way more fuel in the car than what you normally run, and also, I didn't want to make any mistakes that would jeopardise the program that we had planned, especially giving the tow to George in the last lap as well. 

"So, obviously mixed feelings, but it is what it is, and we're ready to fight tomorrow."

Antonelli leads the drivers' standings by 59 points over both Russell and Lewis Hamilton. 

Despite being in a direct championship battle, the Mercedes pair have shown a willingness to play the team game across recent weekends.

"We're all aligned on this, and as he's been a good team player in Zandvoort, I did what the team asked me here, and I'm happy that it worked out.

"Of course, in the race, it's going to be steep for both of our cars, but we were very clear on this: when we can, we help each other, especially in these kinds of situations where I had nothing to win, and he was fighting for pole."