George Russell reacts to being booed on Monza F1 podium after Italian GP

George Russell has shrugged off being booed on the famous Monza Formula 1 podium after the Italian Grand Prix. 

Russell was beaten to victory by Mercedes team-mate and home favourite Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who completed an incredible comeback charge from 19th on the grid to take the chequered flag first. 

Antonelli started P19 after taking an engine penalty but produced a phenomenal drive to get into the lead fight with Russell, with the direct title rivals engaging in a thrilling battle over first place. 

The Italian was aided by Mercedes’ decision to pit him during a mid-race virtual safety car, before capitalising on his fresh medium tyres to cut through the order and pass Russell with three laps remaining. 

A few laps earlier, the pair came close to wiping each other out when they went wheel-to-wheel for the lead at the first corner. Antonelli recovered from a brief trip through the gravel to secure an improbable win. 

During the podium celebrations, Russell was jeered loudly by the crowd as he received his trophy for second place, though the Briton was unfazed by the partisan reception from the Tifosi. 

“Obviously when you’re racing in somebody else’s home country, that’s to be expected,” Russell said in the post-race press conference. “So, yeah, smirked it off.”

Russell had been magnanimous in his defeat to Antonelli immediately after the race as he offered his congratulations. 

“Huge congrats to Kimi of course, incredible result from him,” he said. 

“When I looked on the leaderboard, he was P5, P4. I knew straight away he’d be in the mix. Huge congrats to him, I was struggling with the tyres, did the whole race on that one tyre.

“I’ll take it, it’s been more positive than negative since summer break, but I’d loved to have been P1 today.”

The result leaves Russell 66 points behind Antonelli with 10 races left this season.