George Russell has admitted it is going to be “exceptionally challenging” to prevent Kimi Antonelli from beating him to the world championship after his rival produced a stunning fightback drive from 19th to win the Italian Grand Prix.
Antonelli became the first Italian to triumph at Monza’s Temple of Speed since Ludovico Scarfiotti stormed to victory 36 days after England last won the World Cup.
Sixty years on and hit with an engine penalty, Antonelli began Sunday’s contest virtually at the back. But the 20-year-old phenomenon capitalised on an explosive new power unit, a favourable strategy, and a demonstration of passing excellence, to see off a crestfallen Russell by passing him for the lead with just three laps left.
No driver since Ulsterman John Watson won the 1983 United States Grand Prix at Long Beach has taken the chequered flag from further behind. It marks another piece of history for Antonelli who is firmly on course to become the youngest Formula 1 world champion.
For Russell, this was supposed to his year. This was supposed to be his Italian Grand Prix. He started the race 17 positions ahead of Antonelli.
However, he is now 66 points behind the Italian with just 10 scheduled rounds remaining. Russell has just two victories to Antonelli’s seven. The momentum is with Antonelli and, to add insult to injury, Russell was jeered on the podium by the partisan Italian crowd.
“It is definitely Kimi who is in control of it [the championship battle] and he is deserving to be in control,” Russell said. “I am not even thinking about a fight or a comeback.
“It is going to be exceptionally challenging to overcome that gap. I am sort of accepting that is what it is. And I am going to try and enjoy it from here on in and win as many races as possible.”
Russell will have earmarked the 13th round of the season as his golden chance to eat into Antonelli’s title lead. But he will head for the inaugural Madrid race next weekend even further behind.
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The writing appeared on the wall by only the second lap of the restart -- after Charles Leclerc crashed out at 160mph -- when Antonelli was already up to sixth. By lap 18, Antonelli was second and on Russell’s tail.
Russell and Antonelli traded position five times for the lead. The former remained in front only for a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) to lean the fixture in his teammate’s favour.
Antonelli was on the medium rubber -- less durable than Russell’s hard tyres -- before he was handed 25 laps on fresh mediums to catch and pass Russell.
Russell’s advantage after Antonelli stopped for new tyres stood at 14 seconds but with 10 laps to go, his margin had been trimmed to five seconds. He was looking increasingly vulnerable.
Antonelli looked to have blown his chance when he ran through the gravel at the Variante del Rettifilo as he attempted to wrest the lead off Russell on the 49th lap.
But Antonelli was immediately back on Russell’s gearbox and he made no mistake when he breezed past his wounded teammate before crossing the line 3.8 seconds ahead.
The strategy appeared to favour Antonelli and Russell might have felt aggrieved with his Mercedes team.
But the magnanimous Brit explained: “The VSC came out at that perfect point for the drivers [behind] to pull the trigger and take the pit stop.
“I didn’t [consider pitting]. I actually thought the guys behind me were going to stay out. I am sure the team were quite nervous on the pit-wall watching our battle and they were probably happy to send us out on different strategies.
“I was on the hard tyre and Kimi was on the medium, so if one of us was going to pit, it was going to be Kimi and that is why I was a little bit annoyed with the timing of the VSC because it would have been tough for those guys on the mediums to have competed with anyone on the hards, but it takes nothing away from Kimi’s drive.
“And obviously when you are racing in somebody else’s home country that [the boos] is to be expected. I smiled it off.”
