George Russell has defended teammate Kimi Antonelli’s recent performance after the 18-year-old suffered a slump during the European stint of the season. Russell believes his teammate is still progressing, despite the team struggling with car performance.
Antonelli had a strong start to his debut season in Formula 1; however, the rookie has failed to make it into Q3 in recent races. The Italian driver managed to make up places at the Hungarian Grand Prix before the summer break and claimed a single point, showing promise for the second half of the season.
Russell says that people don’t realise how close Antonelli’s performance is to his
Speaking with Motorsport.com, Russell expressed support for his teammate, explaining that fans may not consider just how close performance is between the Mercedes drivers.
He said, “His pace delta to me is no different. I think that’s what people don’t see. In Canada, I was on pole and he qualified fourth, but he was six tenths behind me. In Belgium, he was out in Q1 and I made it to Q3 but he was only three tenths off.
“People look at the underlying result, but the truth is he’s still making progress, even though we as a team have gone backwards; Kimi and I had just taken an equal step backwards over those last few races.”
🤔| Antonelli’s struggles could be traced down to a core problem at Mercedes according to Andrew Shovlin👇#F1 #HungarianGPhttps://t.co/SfLhD9A4ZT
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) July 31, 2025
Russell also noted that the grid is much closer than it has been in recent seasons, so a tenth of a second off the pace can result in a drastically lower starting position in qualifying sessions.
Russell feels that the whole team has gone backwards, not just Antonelli
Mercedes have struggled with performance since Imola, where they brought an upgrade package that stunted development. Prior to the upgrade package, Antonelli claimed his maiden Sprint pole position and Russell had scored four podiums in the opening six races.
Both Mercedes drivers achieved impressive results in Canada, with Russell taking the win and Antonelli finishing third for his maiden F1 podium, however this was a result of the McLaren drivers colliding and Lando Norris DNF-ing.
Toto Wolff, team boss at Mercedes, has been brutal about the car, saying the Imola upgrades “took all the confidence from the drivers.” He has also come out in defence of Antonelli, reminding fans of just how young the Italian rookie is. Wolff is optimistic about the second half of the season after improvements at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where both drivers finished in the points, and Russell took third place.
With both drivers and Wolff hopeful of redemption after the summer break, will we see Mercedes make their comeback?
