Martin Brundle has suggested George Russell to deal with his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli like Lewis Hamilton on the high of his sport amid the race for the F1 title.
Russell was the pre-season title favourite and made the right begin to the 2026 season by profitable the Australian Grand Prix, however Antonelli’s back-to-back wins give the Italian teenager a shock early world championship lead.
Antonelli took benefit of Russell’s early misfortune and his personal success to take a nine-point lead on the high of the Drivers’ World Championship after the opening three races of the season.
Former F1 driver turned pundit Brundle believes Russell needs to be “involved” about how Antonelli has began his second season.
Brundle instructed the Sky Sports activities F1 Present: “If I have been George, I’d be extra anxious after three races than initially of the season.”
“George did all of the onerous yards at Williams, spent one other 12 months or two there after which moved to Mercedes simply because they stopped dominating and he needed to endure all that.
“Now it seems to be like they have the championship automotive and you might say George has the higher hand. And hastily he needs to be trying throughout the storage and pondering, ‘Wait a minute, that is nowhere close to sure. I nonetheless need to beat this teenager.’ And I believe he actually does.”
“It is a troublesome time for George. He has to deal with Kimi Antonelli as if he have been Lewis Hamilton at his peak and a risk to the championship.”
Antonelli bounced again from a severe crash in follow in Melbourne to complete second within the opening race, and went on to grow to be F1’s youngest pole sitter and take his first win in China.
Antonelli took benefit of the protection automotive timing in Japan to take his second consecutive victory at Suzuka, whereas Russell was fortunate and took fourth place on the rostrum.
And Brundle has been impressed with 19-year-old Antonelli’s efficiency.
“When he crashed his automotive in Melbourne and got here proper again, for me that is one of many issues that claims probably the most about whether or not a younger driver can bounce again shortly, and he did that in Melbourne,” Brundle stated.
“I bear in mind watching your dad and Toto on our present after the China sport saying, ‘Look, overlook concerning the championship, as a result of he has rather a lot to study and he’ll make errors,’ and I assumed that was precisely what I used to be pondering.”
“George is the favourite as a result of we had a wet day, we had a security automotive restart and all of the issues that may positively profit George’s expertise. However watching Kimi in qualifying and within the race, we have been fortunate sufficient to be within the security automotive in Japan, however his tempo was robust.”
