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A dejected George Russell admitted he is ‘bamboozled’. Was this not meant to be the year he strutted to the world title? Yes, before Kimi Antonelli came along and ripped up the script.
The latest blow to the Briton’s hopes came in qualifying in Monaco. Antonelli took pole position in a soaring demonstration of natural speed and increasing assurance, while Russell struggled all session and managed only sixth for today’s showpiece grand prix.
The gap between the Mercedes pair was four-tenths of a second, while Antonelli leads the standings after five races by 43 points, following four consecutive victories – albeit with Russell suffering some ill-luck in three of those contests.
After he suffered an electrical engine failure in Canada a fortnight ago, Russell is striving for a fillip in the principality he has made home. But instead he said despairingly: ‘I don’t really know what’s going on to be honest. I am bamboozled.
‘It’s clearly something in my driving that’s not helping the car.
‘I don’t have an answer right now, and until I can make some adaptations or adjustments it is going to continue like this.
George Russell says he has been ‘bamboozled’ by his car’s performance this season
Kimi Antonelli will start in pole position at the Monaco GP and tops the drivers’ standings
‘It was fine at the start of the year. Every lap I did, if I look at the first race in Melbourne, and then in China until I had my (technical) issues in qualifying, I was P1 in every single session.
‘Every lap I did was good. Then, the last three races have just been nowhere – even Canada I was nowhere until the last lap of Q3, so I don’t have an answer for that.
‘There’s clearly a difference in driving style between the two of us. Last year that played into my hands very well and it’s clearly playing into his hands very well this year. But it still doesn’t answer why I was so good at the start of the year and am so poor now.
‘He’s just getting the tyres in a nicer window than me and the pace is just coming easier for him.
‘I have been driving in this manner my whole career and now for whatever reason it is not working with this car. It is not an excuse. It is a reality. It’s not clicking.’
With overtaking chances at a premium, it threatens to be a long, hard drive for Russell as he strives to limit further damage to his tottering ambitions.
