The Formula 1 season restarts this weekend with the Dutch Grand Prix and with home hero Max Verstappen leading the world championship standings with a 78-point advantage over McLaren’s Englishman Lando Norris. With ten races still to go, Norris is seen by many as the direct rival of Red Bull’s #1, as well as the only one capable of overtaking him in the world championship standings. An opinion also shared by George Russell in the pre-weekend press conference: “I believe that at the moment there is only one driver, probably Lando, who can beat Max in the championship – he declared – he obviously had an incredible season. But who knows, there are so many races to go, and I was talking about it with Lewis, so there are still a lot of opportunities. But I don’t know if anyone can catch up with Max and Red Bull, because in normal circumstances they have a huge advantage, it’s just that we’ve gotten used to total domination in the past seasons”.
Staying at Mercedes, however, the new driver of the Brackley team could answer to the name of Andrea Kimi Antonellia young standard-bearer for Prema and in his first year in Formula 2 after several successes in the minor categories. In this regard, when Russell was asked if he was ready to welcome the Bolognese driver into the team, the British driver replied with a joke: “Kimi who, Raikkonen? Or Kimi Antonelli? But he’s the Formula 2 driver, right? Whoever my teammate will be next year we will obviously welcome them with open arms.. I will be excited about the challenge. Kimi is an exceptional driver, who has a truly fantastic CV in the youth categories and He is destined to become a Formula 1 driver. If he were my teammate I think it would also demonstrate the strength of the Mercedes junior program and it would remind me a bit of my journey that I started as a child. It would also be a great story for the team, though. who knows“.
While waiting to understand what the developments will be regarding Antonelli’s possible debut in F1 in 2025, as well as in Mercedes, Russell has in the meantime admitted when there were contacts between him and the 17-year-old: “I see him every time he races in Formula 2 and we always watch his races with great attention. – he added – we also made some test together at Silverstone a few months ago. It was a great opportunity for him to try the wheel of a Formula 1 and it was exceptionally fast. I’m sure that if he were to arrive in Formula 1 he would do a great job.”
#Russell #Antonelli #Destined #driver
