Russell admits absence of rivalry because he cannot match Antonelli

George Russell admitted Thursday that his “great relationship” with teammate and title rival Kimi Antonelli had not suffered this year because he has been unable to match his on-track performances.

Antonelli, 20, is poised to become Formula One’s youngest champion and first Italian since 1953 by finishing ninth or better in Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix, leaving pre-season title favourite Russell, 28, in a scrap for second place.

The pair have not clashed in races as many previous championship rivals have done, resulting in a breakdown in personal relations and the creation of bitter rivalries as infamously exemplified by four-time champion Alain Prost and three-time champion Ayrton Senna at McLaren in the late 1980s.

Russell said: “On a personal level, Kimi’s obviously a great guy and has lots of energy… And we’ve had no reason this year not to continue to have a great relationship.

“I think a lot of these on-track rivalries start because of on-track incidents or actions and the truth is that he has been at a higher level than me this year.

“So, we’ve not been in that situation too often. We have had one or two races… But when it comes to the race itself, we sort of keep ourselves to ourselves and work with our individual engineers to try and get the most out of it.”

Russell is 123 points adrift of Antonelli in the drivers’ title race ahead of this weekend’s race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, one point ahead of former teammate and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari.

He is due to give up his seat in Friday’s opening free practice to Mercedes team test driver Frederik Vesti, giving Antonelli an early advantage if the Italian recovers from a virus to take part.

Russell added that it would mean little to him to finish as runner-up to Antonelli in the title race.

“I think for every driver on the grid, there’s only one position that matters and it’s P1. To be best of the rest is not really something you dream of as a kid,” he said.

“Of course, I want to finish as high as possible. I want to win as many races as possible.

“But what’s more important to me is to finish the season on a positive momentum rather than necessarily that final order.”

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