Martin Brundle fears George Russell is "bruised" by Monza defeat
George Russell appeared set to eat into Kimi Antonelli's championship lead aheadof the Italian Grand Prix.
Driver turned commentator Martin Brundle believes George Russell will be bruised by his latest defeat at the hands of team-mate Kimi Antonelli.
Russell arrived at Monza trailing Antonelli by 59-points, but with the Italian taking a back of the grid penalty for an engine change beyond the prescribed season limits, the weekend had seemed perfectly set up for the 28-year-old to close the championship margin.
Despite missing out on pole position to Pierre Gasly, things still looked good on Sunday morning. But then, Antonelli charged through the pack, climbing from 19th to 12th place before a lap three red flag, and then reaching Russell's gearbox on only the 16th lap.
Antonelli pitted for fresh rubber and cruised back to Russell, before taking the lead in the closing laps. Instead of the points gap shrinking, it grew to 66.
"Russell was leading on the hard tyres and he wasn't called in," wrote Brundle in his Sky Sports column.
"Right behind him, his team-mate Antonelli and rival [Max] Verstappen did pit to shed their used medium-compound tyres. Russell said in the post-race interviews that he thought both cars were staying out.
"In the team press release, he's quoted very diplomatically as saying the team split strategies as it was not clear whether track advantage ahead of all traffic was the right way to go, or taking on fresh tyres. My guess is he's feeling bruised by how that played out.
"Antonelli set about the task of catching up the 15 seconds lost, including passing people like Norris and Hamilton, and once again he made impressive progress. Verstappen became embroiled in a battle with both McLarens, including the feisty Piastri and so it became effectively an all silver two-horse race. Game on."
With the gap now nearer three race wins than two, the prevailing opinion is that Antonelli has not only one hand on the championship trophy, but also a few fingers from his second hand.
However, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff refuses to rule Russell out of the fight.
He said: "Is that the championship decided? I don't know. It's too early to say.
"We have 10 races to go, or maybe nine, I don't know, and it's motor racing. It's a technical sport, things can break, accidents can happen, and that's why we have to do our best job for both drivers, continuing to bring our best game."
Sam joined Crash.net in February 2026 with extensive experience in motorsport media, having covered numerous championships around the world.
