Why hasn't there been an internal rivalry at Mercedes this season? Because Antonelli's too far ahead, says Russell

Mercedes' George Russell says Kimi Antonelli’s performances this season have often meant the two have not been close enough to create tension between the two in races.

Antonelli stands on the verge of securing his first drivers’ championship at this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix, with any finish inside the top nine enough to guarantee the title. Despite seeing his teammate take control of the internal battle this year, Russell said the lack of flashpoints from a sporting perspective has protected their personal dynamic.

“On a personal level, Kimi is obviously a great guy with lots of energy,” Russell said. “We've had no reason this year not to continue a good relationship.

“I think a lot of these rivalries start because of on-track incidents or actions. The truth is he's been at a higher level than me this year, so we've not really been in that situation too often. We've had one or two races, and 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 accepts he hasn’t been able to find consistency in his performances this year in the same way that Antonelli has, and is making that his main goal for the final five rounds of the season.

“It's been a little bit strange for us since we brought this package to the car," he said. "Obviously, we first brought it in Malaysia, and it was a pretty tough weekend for the two of us. Then Kimi had it on in Singapore. Again, not a straightforward weekend. I had it back on in Austin and struggled a lot on my side, and he obviously had a very, very strong race.

“We are seeing some things in the characteristics that just show that it performed in a very narrow window. So we need to try and widen that. Obviously, from my side, I need to try and focus on getting into that window.

“It's definitely important for me to try and gain some consistency. A couple of races ago, we were on pole by 0.8s and won the race. Then, last week, I finished in P8, and I've never had a season like this in my career where the performance has fluctuated so much. 

“I know it's in there because you can't deliver performances like that in Baku if you've so-called 'lost it'. It's just that we're struggling to have a high hit rate. We don't know why that is, and as I said, we've never had it. I've never had it personally before in my career. I guess that's probably the priority for me in these last few races.”