Why Kimi Antonelli is faster than George Russell in Mercedes F1 title fight

George Russell, Kimi Antonelli at the Japanese GP press conference — Photo: © IMAGO

Mercedes

Why Kimi Antonelli is faster than George Russell in Mercedes F1 title fight

Kimi Antonelli leads George Russell by 43 points

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 2 June 2026 14:27

An F1 expert has revealed why Kimi Antonelli has the edge over his much more experienced team-mate George Russell.

Mercedes' two racers are currently in a fight for the drivers' championship, with their Mercedes team being the dominant outfit in the sport.

While Russell won the opening race of the season in Australia, Antonelli has since gone on to win the next four grands prix consecutively, and heads into the Monaco Grand Prix weekend with a 43-point lead over Russell.

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The 19-year-old is the youngest leader of the drivers' championship ever, and his form over Russell has seemingly come out of nowhere, having been outperformed by the Brit last season.

In his rookie year, Antonelli finished seventh in the drivers' championship, while Russell was up in fourth, 169 points above the Italian having claimed two grand prix victories and seven further podiums.

Russell - in his eighth season in the series - was the strong favourite to claim this year's title, but now finds himself struggling to even stay in contention.

How is Antonelli beating a much more experienced racer in Russell?

Now, racer and F1 pundit Jamie Chadwick has revealed the advantage that Antonelli has over Russell, with his more raw racing talent.

"I think the hot-headedness of Kimi is what's giving him that tenth of a second, especially when he was behind George and chasing him," Chadwick told the Sky Sports F1 podcast.

"You could see he had the bit between his teeth. He had that extra hunger, extra motivation to try and get on par with his team-mate.

"And I think that tenth of a second, or that hunger has come from the fact that he came off the back of winning three races and his confidence has just grown.

"He keeps saying he's not thinking about the championship, but he now has a big advantage. He's thinking of it as, 'I don't care I've got an experienced team-mate, I have every right to be ahead of you today'. And that's how he's driving."

F1 Mercedes George Russell Kimi Antonelli Jamie Chadwick