What if Russell’s retirement wasn’t the best news for Antonelli?

What a start. Four wins and a second place in 5 races, all four in a row. The only Grand Prix that Kimi Antonelli hasn’t won in 2026 so far was the opening one, in Australia, then he made them all his own. Before the start of the season, imagining a difficult scenario was objectively almost impossible. In his debut season Antonelli had indeed shown good things, but he had also shown a series of limitations, even in terms of speed itself. With these new cars, however, the very young Italian seems (for now) like a different driver. Definitely more comfortable, much faster, always in control of all the fundamentals, from tire temperature to energy management. We are probably seeing the Antonelli who convinced Toto Wolff, certainly not the latest arrival, to put such an important path in front of him and so many opportunities available, such as that of driving the single-seater that won all 5 of the first races of 2026. The boy certainly does not lack driving talent and sensitivity, and with these single-seaters less extreme in terms of grip limits compared to the ground effect ones and at the same time more traditional in reactions and management of driving sensations, Kimi seems to have found his habitat ideal. He has a rival at home who is certainly a very tough nut to crack, a strong and determined George Russell who, rightly, is ready to do anything to beat him, but who struggles quite a bit to stay ahead of him. Kimi was faster, Russell has to resort to all the tricks. In Montreal, beyond the stopwatch, there were many clues about the real balance between the two Mercedes standard bearers on the track and what the relative perception of the two was. For example, in the Sprint Russell had to defend his position very hard, until Antonelli’s mistake, to win the race. In qualifying, Kimi practically had pole in his pocket and in order to stay ahead of him, Russell had to invent a different strategy from everyone else, with a final lap on hot tires which still put him ahead by just half a tenth. And then the obvious difference in defending the position on the track in close battles: Antonelli attacked, perhaps exaggerating, but he never defended himself with moves at the limit, while we saw Russell draw on his entire repertoire to avoid being overtaken by his teammate. A natural thing? Certainly, but also a signal that reveals the Englishman’s fear of not having the means to get back to the front in the event of an immediate overtaking, unlike Antonelli. The Canadian race also confirmed some of these aspects to us: for example, as soon as Russell was overtaken for the first time by Antonelli, he immediately launched a counterattack using a particular engine mode, with a very high top speed, never seen again throughout the race by either of them, so much so that it made us doubt that such aggressive use may have contributed to the subsequent failure, although naturally we have no confirmation in this sense. After that Antonelli remained glued to Russell’s exhausts for about a third of the race, and when he finally managed to get back ahead, before the mistake at the hairpin, he had managed to gradually open a first gap that was about to reach the second, taking away Russell’s possibility of using the overtake mode. In short, the impression is that Antonelli had about a tenth and a half or two paces ahead in Canada too. We don’t have a crystal ball and we can’t know if the young Bolognese would have managed to overtake Russell once again if the Englishman hadn’t retired, but he certainly had what it takes to do it a third time. Photo by Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich / POOL / AFP via Getty Images Russell’s withdrawal and superficial declarations The electrical or electronic failure accused by Russell meant that the Englishman defended his fourth “defeat” of the season with circumstantial words that were ultimately very easy to find: “I retired after taking pole and while I was leading the race”. A truth certainly, but which in some way does not reflect the values ​​we were seeing on the track in terms of speed at the time of retirement. In fact, Russell had to accept the retirement but he also found himself an excellent excuse to avoid having to deal with the possibility that Antonelli was faster even on a track that was congenial to him and not just in Miami. Already in Suzuka Antonelli had given the impression of being the faster of the two, but Russell was able to give the (real in that case too) reason for the Safety Car coming out for him at the wrong time. In Canada, in addition to pointing out that he was in front, he complained about his bad luck, saying that he wanted to be able to race on equal terms with Antonelli. Yet, our impression was that, from the way he defended the position, Russell knew he was just a little slower. The provocation From all this comes our little provocative question: from the point of view of the psychological balance within the team, would it perhaps have been better for Kimi to beat Russell on the track instead of seeing him retire? He would certainly have earned far fewer points in the standings, but a defeat on the Canadian track would have been very hard to digest for the Englishman. In view of such a long and exhausting season, such a worm to be implanted in Russell’s mind would have been a considerable advantage for Antonelli. Maybe even more than the 43 points in the standings. We don’t have a crystal ball but this question seemed interesting to us and for this reason we also ask you in the public to tell us yours: let us know in the comments if in your opinion it is better to have a haul of points but an opponent who somehow still feels in the running, or fewer points advantage but a psychological defeat inflicted directly on the rival?

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News , 2026-05-28 16:00:00