Wolff confident of Russell’s resilience in face of championship gap

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says George Russell has the resilience to handle the 43-point gap to teammate Kimi Antonelli that opened up as a result of his retirement from the Canadian Grand Prix.

Russell won the season-opening race in Australia and followed that up with Sprint victory in China, but has yet to win since after a combination of reliability issues and Antonelli’s pace. Following his retirement from the lead in Montreal, 2018 Formula 2 champion Russell is now just 13 points clear of third-placed Charles Leclerc, but Wolff says the 28-year-old has the strength to hit back.

“Things have been going against him in the last few races,” Wolff said. “[Canada] certainly would have been big points to collect – he was in the lead – but if there's one guy that I would choose in this paddock in terms of resilience and determination, that would be George. He's had to overcome adversity previously, whether it's from karting or junior formulas, and he's not going to give up that fight.

“Honestly, there's 17 races to go … So many points to score, so … digest, forget, move on, move forward and drive the best you can. And that's exactly what he's going to do.

“The best ones, they don't end up in Formula 1 because they just happen to win a few races, they end up there because they have that resilience. You don't win championships in junior formulas or in karting if you haven't got the resilience.

“All of them will have had massive setbacks; so [did] he. So I think this is about really digesting, sleeping over it, and there's nothing he could have done more than what he did [in Montreal]. And maybe that, at least, is a positive thought.”

Antonelli now enjoys a lead of nearly two race victories, but the Italian says it won’t change the way he approaches each race weekend as he is aware of just how fast his teammate is.

“I’m not thinking about championship,” Antonelli said. “I’m just focusing on race by race. I think it’s still very early to talk about that. And of course, now I have this gap but that doesn’t mean that I can relax and just take it easier.

“Instead, I need to keep leveling up and keep raising the bar because it’s not going to be easy and competitors are getting closer, and also George is super quick. So definitely I’m just going to try to focus on myself, enjoy the driving and trying to really drive as fast as possible.”