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Early in the season it seemed certain that whichever of the Mercedes drivers came out ahead would be crowned world champion. That remains likely, but the threat posed by rival teams has grown in recent races.
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Little about Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s form in his rookie season indicated that 12 months later he would be beating his team mate quite as emphatically as he is. But heading into the summer break, Antonelli holds a valuable 59-point lead over the other Mercedes driver.
It’s a far cry from the situation around 12 months ago. At the end of the ‘European season’, Antonelli was 15-1 down against George Russell in qualifying. He ended the season still with less than half his team mate’s points tally.
But after a difficult mid-season, following a Mercedes upgrade which did not go as intended, Antonelli rebounded impressively with the end of the year in sight. He reached the podium twice over the final four rounds.
So while Russell’s season-opening victory in Australia looked like the shape of things to come, Antonelli shattered those illusions by winning the next five rounds in a row. He got the rub of the green at times – technical trouble hit Russell in qualifying at Shanghai and took him out while he led in Montreal – but he has also seemed fundamentally more at ease with Mercedes’ W17 than his team mate.
The unusually high rate of problems on Mercedes’ cars, and Russell’s particular problems with poor straight-line speed at Silverstone and Spa, have further complicated the picture. Antonelli’s car has not been immune, breaking down in Spain and breaking an aerodynamic component at Silverstone. Overall, Russell has probably had slightly worse luck, but not 59 points’ worth. Antonelli is leading this championship on merit, and Russell will have to dig deep in the second half of the season if he is going to avoid a painful defeat.
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| AUS | CHI | JAP | MIA | CAN | MON | SPA | AUT | GBR | BEL | HUN | ||
| Antonelli | Q | |||||||||||
| R |
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Unrepresentative comparisons omitted. Negative value: Antonelli was faster; Positive value: Russell was faster
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