Is the F1 title fight over? George Russell ‘not thinking about a comeback’

George Russell has all-but conceded that the Formula 1 world championship might be out of reach as his title hopes suffered another blow at the Italian Grand Prix. 

Lining up from second on the grid, Russell missed a golden opportunity to make big inroads on what had been a 59-point deficit to Mercedes team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who started down in 19th. 

Antonelli claimed a breathtaking victory in a wild race at Monza as he impressively charged through the field and overtook Russell for the win with three laps remaining. 

The result sees the 20-year-old Italian extend his championship advantage over his direct title rival to 66 points with 10 scheduled races remaining this season. 

Speaking in the post-race press conference, a despondent Russell seemed accepting of the damage done to his title prospects, though he did not go as far as to explicitly rule himself out of contention. 

“Yeah, I mean, you know, definitely Kimi’s in control of it and he’s deserving to be in control of it,” Russell admitted. 

“For me personally, I’m not even thinking about a fight or a comeback or anything. I’m just focused on taking it race by race and trying to maximise every single weekend. 

“He’s performing incredibly well. It’s going to be exceptionally challenging to overcome that gap, so I’m just sort of accepting that it is what it is and I’m just going to enjoy it from here on in and try and win as many races as possible.”

Antonelli not getting ahead of himself 

Despite further strengthening his grip on the world championship with a seventh victory of the season, Antonelli insisted he is not allowing himself to get carried away with title thoughts. 

“Definitely it’s been a very strong year so far, but still many races left and so, you know, still anything can happen. And we’ve seen how things can swing very quickly,” said Antonelli, who is on course to become the youngest-ever F1 world champion this year. 

“So, on my side, as I said many times, just take it race by race, focus on things that I can control and just maximise every opportunity I get. Because, you know, this weekend we were fastest, but we never know. 

“We might go to another track and all of a sudden, you know, McLaren is the fastest, or Ferrari is up there, or even Red Bull, you know, with Max. 

“So that’s why it’s really important to just take every opportunity, focus race by race, and then obviously also George is in great form now, so just need to level up.”