Former Method 1 driver David Coulthard has urged George Russell to “assert himself” inside Mercedes after his team-mate Kimi Antonelli secured his maiden F1 win on the Chinese language Grand Prix.
Russell at present leads the drivers’ championship with 51 factors, however his team-mate follows simply 4 factors behind him in second. After Mercedes had a dominant begin to the season, Russell shortly grew to become the favorite for the drivers’ title. However Antonelli’s win from pole place in China has posed a menace to the Briton.
“[George Russell] must reassert himself inside that group. Kimi, you understand, it is all good and cute however getting his first grand prix victory is getting in the best way of him attempting to win a world championship,” Coulthard argued on the Up To Pace podcast.
Antonelli went on to safe pole place for the Japanese Grand Prix, and Russell will begin alongside him in second. Mercedes group chief Toto Wolff and Russell confirmed after qualifying on the Suzuka circuit that the group had made a set-up change to his automobile, which resulted within the 28-year-old battling oversteer.
“It was actually odd, to be trustworthy. We made a set of changes going into qualifying, and the automobile simply didn’t really feel the identical because it has in the entire weekend,” Russell mentioned within the post-qualifying press convention.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, George Russell, Mercedes
Picture by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Photos through Getty Photos
“And also you noticed my first laps in Q1. I used to be down in P7, P8, and we needed to make an enormous adjustment throughout qualifying with the entrance wing to adapt. The group have already had a glance. We do not know whether or not one thing incorrect was performed or what occurred. “However I am form of glad once more to be on this place as a result of after Q1, I used to be like, I am undecided the place we’ll find yourself.”
He added: “We had a mechanical challenge to the automobile on the rear finish, and it was simply primarily by way of the Esses. I could not assault any of the corners. The rear was attempting to step out on me all through. “I am positive we’ll attempt to see what occurred. There’s probably not something we will do now. However as I mentioned, it is a good place to start out for tomorrow and it is going to be a protracted race.”
We would like your opinion!
What would you prefer to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Staff
