Autobayng News Team
In spite of his lack of experience, the hype around him and the inevitable huge interest his arrival has generated, Andrea Kimi Antonelli made a solid start to life in Formula 1.
However he hasn’t yet shown the pace to be able to consistently match his team mate. George Russell, now in his seventh season as an F1 driver and fourth at Mercedes, has scored the majority of the team’s points.
Antonelli has had some poor luck, however, particularly in the second quarter of the season. Having scored points in five of the first six rounds (arguably only missing out in Bahrain due to Mercedes’ strategy call), he has scored just once in the last six. While Antonelli was clearly to blame for his first-lap retirement in Austria (as he readily admitted) he also suffered two technical failures and was taken out by Isack Hadjar at Silverstone.
With the exception of Miami, where Russell appeared to be off his game and Antonelli took a superb pole position for the sprint race, the newcomer has consistently been a couple of tenths shy of his team mate’s pace. For perspective, that is slightly further away than Oscar Piastri was compared to Lando Norris over his first half-season two years ago.
But Antonelli arrived in F1 with less experience than Piastri. And, like Piastri, he has impressed with his calmness and maturity.
Russell looked ready to assume the role of team leader last year when it was public knowledge that Lewis Hamilton was on his way out. He has justified that view this season, and though the car has seldom been a match for the McLarens, he has taken the fight to Max Verstappen, holding him off for victory in Canada.
The situation at Mercedes has added extra piquancy to Russell’s scraps with Verstappen. Russell has clearly performed well enough to deserve a contract extension, but that isn’t going to happen as long as Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes he has a chance of luring the four-times champion away from Red Bull.
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Russell must be patient, therefore. Merely putting Antonelli in the shade isn’t going to be enough to ensure he gets to drive a W17. The irony is, if Verstappen can trigger an exit clause in his contract by falling out of the championship top three, the driver best-placed to accomplish that is Russell.
Russell vs Antonelli: Summary
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Russell vs Antonelli: Race-by-race
| AUS | CHI | JAP | BAH | SAU | MIA | EMI | MON | SPA | CAN | AUT | GBR | ||
| Russell | Q |  | | | | |  | | | | | | |
| R | | | | | | |  | | | | | |
Russell vs Antonelli: One-lap pace
Unrepresentative comparisons omitted. Negative value: Russell was faster; Positive value: Antonelli was faster
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