George Russell now has to grab his boss Toto Wolff by the neck to assert himself, and/or seek a way out of Mercedes.
Or to accept that he will be a de facto No2 for the rest of his career.
That is the honest truth, but it was not how it was meant to be for him. He started the season with a leap in his gangly step, the world championship at his mercy in a car that was the tops.
He had every reason to believe in himself. He beat Lewis Hamilton, the legend whom Russell deferred to as the GOAT, in two of their three seasons together, and held the whip hand over his team-mate Kimi Antonelli last year. The high road of history was wide open to him, or so it seemed.
Not now. At 28, he is playing second fiddle to the 20-year-old Antonelli, who produced one of Formula One’s finest drives from the back of the grid, from 19th, after taking on a new engine, to first place in Monza, as he became the first home winner of the Italian Grand Prix for 60 years. Laurels fell at young Kimi’s feet, and rightly so. It was a majestic performance.
Russell started the race second and finished second on the day he needed to prove himself, or to forget it. He is now 66 points behind Antonelli. He has won twice this season. Antonelli has won seven times.
Kimi Antonelli’s miracle drive in Monza has extended his championship lead over Mercedes team-mate George Russell to 66 points
Russell, who has lived in the shadow of Lewis Hamilton previously, needs to reassert himself
Of all the motorhomes I have been in, the noise was more exuberant in delight that Antonelli had won than in almost any other celebrating a driver’s success. Even allowing for the fact that many of the guests sipping champagne were Italian, there was no mistaking the tsunami of exultation meant something important in intra-team dynamics.
By contrast had Russell won, there would have been pleasure, for sure, polite celebration, but not the bone-deep joy. That is the strong wind Russell is up against.
He is not the team’s favourite child, and a lot of ego goes into this equation. Wolff picked Antonelli as his career-enhancing superstar. Yes, Russell is also a product of the Mercedes academy, but has never been viewed by Wolff as heir to Hamilton, their biggest race winner and a standout sensation of sport.
That is why Russell should leave Mercedes if he ever wants to achieve his ambition of claiming the title. This season is pretty much finished in that regard. He would need to put together multiple consecutive wins – and then, still, hope for the best.
His mood after the gut-wrenching loss in Monza was perplexing. He was downcast, yes. His sentences at the post-race press conference trailed off, realising, as he could not escape, that his hopes were being eclipsed.
But why did Russell not question why the strategy Mercedes deployed that had favoured Antonelli, a tyre change under the virtual safety car brought about by Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin conking out, was loaded against him?
In his own mind, and I say this without speaking to him privately, he did, deep in his psyche.
That is why he is in a funk. He knows he is not given quite equal treatment. There is no escape from it, and his pretence of the team playing fair is nonsensical. He can’t be stupid enough to think so.
He argues repeatedly that there are 2,500 staff at Mercedes and why would any of them care who wins the drivers’ championship. A fair point – up to a point, Lord Copper! The yeomen factory folk all get bonuses if they win the constructors’ title, and new kitchens for all, et cetera.
But what if by small margins, at crucial moments, at the deciding seconds, one or two people at the top are pulling against him?
The noise was exuberant in delight that Antonelli had won. Had Russell won, there would have been pleasure, for sure, polite celebration, but not the bone-deep joy
Russell is in a funk. He knows he is not given quite equal treatment. There is no escape from it
One senior figure in the sport, someone who has won multiple world championships in one form or another, told me the bias towards Antonelli is obvious, and has been for months.
Why is Russell not railing against it?
Has he seriously bought into the delusion of Wolff’s assertion that there is a level playing field? ‘No,’ I doubt, though he says ‘yes’.
As for options to move elsewhere? They are few and far between for 2027. Practically none. Yet, the 2028 grid may be more fluid and that is when he could move if his contract allows him to do so. He is on some £25million a year and is tied up by Wolff under a binding deal as a Mercedes man, so it will be hard to slip away.
Other drivers have had long and distinguished careers as No2s, remunerative ones, too. Valtteri Bottas to Hamilton, Rubens Barrichello to Michael Schumacher, most pertinently David Coulthard to Mika Hakkinen. The list goes on.
The question is whether Russell wants to spend the rest of his time subservient to Mercedes’ golden child Kimi. It’s a ruthless game.
