Jun.10 (GMM) George Russell’s championship challenge may be fading fast, but former Formula 1 driver Christian Danner believes the Mercedes driver remains every bit as good as runaway leader Kimi Antonelli.
Russell’s difficult run continued in Monaco, leaving him 68 points behind his teenage teammate after Antonelli’s fifth win in six races.
The Briton admitted: “I’m in a state of struggling to comprehend what is going on.”
After Antonelli’s latest victory, Russell’s own comment from Montreal that the title was now “Kimi’s to lose” has only become more striking.
While some observers believe Antonelli is now simply outperforming his more experienced teammate, Russell insists fortune has played a major role.
“I’ve had huge lows in my career, after I performed poorly myself two or three races in a row,” he said. “But I’ve never experienced such a series of bad luck.”
Danner agrees that circumstances have heavily favoured the 19-year-old Italian.
“Kimi has all the luck in the world, and George has all the bad luck in the world,” he told Speed Week.
“He just has to get through it. The racing gods will turn things around eventually, and Kimi will realise that at some point.”
The German believes the two Mercedes drivers remain closely matched despite the growing points gap. “Fundamentally, the two are evenly matched, and that’s the only thing that matters,” said Danner.
“And that’s great for both of them.”
His advice to Russell is simple.
“Just don’t think about it, keep going, drive,” Danner said. “Don’t think, right foot and that’s it.
“Whatever forces you to keep a clear head, because that’s what it comes down to. You simply have to be able to do that, otherwise you’ll get crushed in this business.”
Danner is confident Russell has the mentality to recover.
“I believe George can do it,” he said. “He’s crystal clear-headed and knows exactly what’s at stake, what he has to do. I think George will pull himself together somehow and he’ll definitely be in the fight.”
The former driver also rejected suggestions that Antonelli’s title charge has been entirely flawless.
“Kimi is driving incredibly well and he gets 10 out of 10 from me,” said Danner. “But I have eyes in my head and I also saw exactly how lucky he was that he didn’t crash, take out his teammate, and so on.
“Greatest respect for Kimi, but also greatest respect for George.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, meanwhile, has little interest in discussions about luck – or that Russell is now stuck in a downwards spiral.
“F1 is about physics, not mysticism,” he said.
“A driver doesn’t suddenly forget how to drive, and nobody suddenly becomes a champion. So I’m not worried about his performance because we know he’s one of the best.”
Wolff admits Mercedes still needs to understand why Russell struggled in Monaco.
“We need to keep our feet on the ground, analyse the data, and figure out why it was difficult here and why Miami was difficult,” he said. “But it’s not like we’re seeing a pattern over the season.”
The Austrian remains fully supportive of both drivers.
“I have no doubt that George will come back strong,” Wolff said. “I couldn’t ask for a better driver pairing.
“We have two drivers we can rely on to bring us wins and points.”
