Kimi Antonelli responds to George Russell luck claim amidst title fight

Kimi Antonelli has rejected the suggestion that George Russell has been the unluckier Mercedes driver this season, insisting both have endured costly misfortune.

A 25-point gap separates the two, and while Russell did concede that was probably a fair reflection of the season so far, he could not say whether the luck had balanced out between them.

Kimi Antonelli responds to George Russell

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Mercedes’ 78-point lead at the top of the Constructors’ Championship should really be bigger, but both drivers have experienced DNFs as well as race-altering events.

Most recently, Antonelli lost what looked like a likely race victory when his front-left wheel shield became detached, and the resulting track limits penalty pushed him out of the points.

But after Russell debated whether the luck was evenly split, Antonelli pointed out he has had his own moments of misfortune.

“It’s really hard to judge because, yes, he’s had bad luck, for sure,” Antonelli said when asked whether the 25-point gap was fair. “Monaco was one of them.

“Of course, we wouldn’t have known how the race would have ended because we were both neck and neck. It was impossible to know. But for sure, yeah, he was very unlucky because at that point he was leading the race and he had to stop. Then there were a couple of other times that he was a bit unlucky.

“In my case, we were going towards a result that was almost certain. Barcelona was P2. Silverstone, we cannot know because I didn’t have a shot, but I think we would have been in the fight for it. So for sure, we know those would have been certain points.

“I have to say both of us had bad luck. One of us had it in more critical moments at times, but as I said, it’s the way it is. This is how motorsport goes, and we all know that. We could see ourselves how this can shift very quickly.

“As a team, definitely reliability has not been our strongest point, and we’ve realised that is something we need to keep working on. For example, Ferrari seems very strong on that side, so we just need to make sure.

“I know the team is working super hard to make sure that these things don’t happen.

“But if I look back after this first—this is weekend 10—if we look at me and George combined, we lost lots of points. Then if you look at the Constructors’ Championship balance, it’s definitely a big hit.

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“But as drivers, in this case me and George, we just try to do our best and make sure we use every opportunity we get.”

Antonelli was also asked to rate his own season out of 10 as he sits top of the Championship.

“I wouldn’t say 10 out of 10, for a few reasons,” he started. “First one, Australia FP3. That was not good because then we almost missed qualifying.

“We couldn’t set up the car properly and stuff like that, so it compromised a bit the end of the weekend. Then I would say Japan. Yes, I did win in Japan, but I had a really bad start.

“Obviously, we extended the stint and then we were lucky with the safety car. Then I would say, more recently, the Miami sprint race-track limits, Barcelona qualifying, mainly Spielberg qualifying.

“So there are a few things. I would say eight and a half out of 10.”

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