‘That statement wasn’t good’: Russell criticised after Antonelli admission

George Russell has been called out by Christian Fittipaldi for his defeatist statement after the Canadian Grand Prix, having declared the title is Kimi Antonelli’s to lose.

According to Fittipaldi, that’s not the way to put pressure on your teammate; you need to do that with your results on the track.

Christian Fittipaldi: George Russell is ‘throwing in the towel’

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After three successive losses to his teammate from China to Miami, Russell came to the fore in the intra-team Mercedes battle at the Canadian Grand Prix.

The Briton clinched Sprint pole and the victory, holding off Antonelli in a fierce on-track battle that had the Italian feeling aggrieved in the moment and calling for Russell to be penalised.

Russell’s pace continued into qualifying where he claimed pole position by 0.068s over his Italian teammate and once again the two found themselves engaged in a wheel-to-wheel battle that went back-and-forth.

It ended when a “catastrophic” battery issue saw Russell retire his W17 on the side of the track.

Antonelli took the victory by 10.7 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton to surge 43 points clear of Russell in the race for the world title.

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The Briton claims it is now Antonelli’s to lose.

“Right now, it’s his to lose,” Russell said after his DNF. “So many points ahead.

“It’s almost like the gods don’t want me to be in this fight. When I look at the safety car timing in Japan, breaking down in China Q3 fighting for pole, breaking down from the lead here today.

“But you know pressure’s off, go out, enjoy every single race, try and win every single race, and I’ve got nothing to lose.”

Russell’s comment didn’t go down well with former Minardi and Ford F1 driver Christian Fittipaldi.

According to the Brazilian, it came across as Russell was giving up.

Fittipaldi told the Pelas Pistas podcast: “I have even taken a picture of one of those statements. I wanted to be sure.

“‘Right now, it’s Kimi to lose. So many points ahead. I’ve got nothing to lose’.

“I personally think he’s throwing in the towel.”

But put to him that Russell’s comments were, if anything, putting the pressure on Antonelli, Fittipaldi replied: “I think putting the pressure on him means he has to deliver on the track and just talk behind the scenes.

“There were several moments during the weekend in Canada where I thought, ‘oh, I think he’s going to give that kid a run for his money’.

“But now, with this statement, that’s not really the case.

“Clearly very frustrated because his car broke down, I understand that, but that statement wasn’t good.”

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