Former Formulation 1 driver David Coulthard believes the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix is a “actually essential weekend, psychologically” for George Russell as he appears to reassert his authority at Mercedes.
As Kimi Antonelli prolonged his lead within the drivers’ championship to twenty factors over Russell after three consecutive wins in China, Japan and Miami, the strain is on the Briton.
Talking on the Up To Velocity podcast, Coulthard argued: “I do assume it is a actually, actually essential weekend psychologically for George. It is a monitor that he is traditionally gone effectively at.
“We heard him, amazingly in my thoughts, undergo the entire Miami weekend saying, ‘Hey, I am not likely good right here. The monitor’s by no means labored for me.’ It was very unfavorable constructing blocks in his thoughts that simply change into tough to recover from that wall if you happen to maintain constructing these unfavorable blocks.
“But when Kimi goes to Montreal and places within the kind of free-spirited performances that we have seen from the 19-year-old, that might be an actual punch within the intestine for George. So there’s so much at stake at solely race 5 of the season.”
Whereas Russell headed into the season as one of many favourites for the drivers’ title, the sturdy begin from his 19-year-old team-mate has raised the query of whether or not the 2 Mercedes drivers needs to be allowed to combat.
George Russell, Mercedes
Picture by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Pictures through Getty Pictures
“Are they going to be free to race? And I believe, to reply my very own query, in fact, they are going to be free to race,” Coulthard stated. “However Toto [Wolff], I am positive, has learn the riot act on, if we return to Barcelona, what was it [2016] when [Nico] Rosberg and [Lewis] Hamilton crashed… we had the 2 Mercedes drivers crash popping out of Flip 3 on the opening lap of the Spanish Grand Prix, and Toto flipped his chips.
“I do not know if that is an expression everybody’s acquainted with, however he blew his prime and from that second on, apparently, he made the drivers pay for the crash harm, which might have been a whole bunch of hundreds of kilos.”
The previous Pink Bull driver added: “I can imagine he was capable of threaten him with that, however God that may be the worst nightmare for George ought to he come wheel-to-wheel with Kimi.
“However here is the factor, Kimi continues to be the pet and the little child. We settle for little errors from youth. We’re not fairly so forgiving after they’ve received a bit extra expertise. So in that respect, George has received extra duty and extra strain.”
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