Russell teases Antonelli: “Fighting in Barcelona favored Hamilton. In Montreal there was a battle but the others were far away”

Russell challenges Antonelli in Austria In the weekends preceding the one in Barcelona, ​​George Russell had complained a lot about the bad luck he had had up to that point. Montmeló, however, put the balance back into balance thanks to the withdrawal of Kimi Antonelli, which allowed them to recover 18 points from the World Cup leader. Now comes the Red Bull Ring, where Russell won the second race of his career (2022): doing an encore would mean putting further pressure on the blue, who however is demonstrating incredible continuity of performance and so far has had more pace than his teammate in every race weekend. Antonelli also confirmed this in Catalonia, overtaking the Briton before the technical problem that ousted him a few laps from the end. Russell, then, tries to tease him by supporting the team order hypothesis launched by Toto Wolff after Barcelona: “Let’s not attack each other, otherwise we favor Ferrari”, this is the gist of what #63 says in the Austrian press conference. At least as long as he is in the lead… Russell’s words “I think it’s clear that the team’s victory is a priority. It doesn’t matter which driver wins. In Canada, Kimi and I fought very hard, but the others were far away and the victory for the team was not in question. In Barcelona there was another driver fighting (Lewis Hamilton, ed.), then clearly Lewis had that Virtual Safety Car which helped him a lot, but even without the VSC, Kimi and I were losing time between ourselves and we would have conceded the opportunity for Ferrari to win. That’s where we have to be intelligent as teammates and it’s very clear that the team wants to win the race. Then it doesn’t matter whether it’s me or Kimi who wins it.” “On Friday and Saturday in Barcelona I was very happy with the car, I had just come from a very difficult moment due to things that were out of my control but also aspects that were within my control,” he added. “It went better, I brought a simpler mentality to Barcelona and I was very fast in qualifying. Then in the race, unfortunately, we had a problem with the front wing which compromised us a lot and Ferrari was able to take advantage of the situation. We must continue to make small steps forward with this car, with the new tires and with the set-up to try to get the best out of each weekend, but I’m confident and enthusiastic about tackling the next races.”

Automobile Magazine – Formula1 English, News

2026-06-25 23:38:00