George Russell must be ‘feeling sick every day’ when he looks at the F1 standings

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F1 pundit Nelson Piquet Jr thinks George Russell must be ‘feeling sick’ with himself every single time he looks at the F1 standings and sees Kimi Antonelli leading the way.

The 19-year-old currently holds a 41-point lead over second-placed man Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ championship, with George Russell 50 points adrift of his Mercedes counterpart in P3.

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Kimi Antonelli’s DNF at the recent Barcelona Grand Prix saw both Britons eat into his championship lead, which stood at 66 points after his victory in Monaco – the largest advantage after six rounds in F1 history.

It has been a very difficult few months for Russell, who came into the current campaign as the overwhelming favourite due to Mercedes’ prowess with new regulations and his impressive performances in recent years.

However, Antonelli’s work over the winter break cannot be understated, but has seemingly come at the expense of his teammate’s status inside the F1 paddock.

• READ MORE: David Coulthard says George Russell’s heart ‘wasn’t in it’ during Kimi Antonelli fight in Barcelona

Nelson Piquet Jr believes George Russell must be ‘feeling sick every day’ when he looks at the F1 standings

In a post-Barcelona Grand Prix episode of the Pelas Pistas podcast, former F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr assessed the current situation unfolding at Brackley regarding Antonelli and Russell’s championship hopes.

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He began by highlighting how the young Italian driver no longer has anything to prove, following his record-breaking start to the 2026 F1 campaign that saw him secure five Grand Prix victories on the bounce.

However, in the case of Russell, he sees a much more worrying predicament unfolding for the 28-year-old if he is unable to assert himself as Mercedes’ number one driver before the end of the year.

“Russell, on the other hand, must be feeling the pressure, feeling sick every day because he’s got a kid right next to him, who is way ahead on points, clearly performing better than him in every race and almost every qualifying session,” he said.

“He had a chance to win in Barcelona this weekend, but it just wasn’t his time. If Kimi had finished, he’d have finished ahead of him again. So he must really be thinking about what his next contract will be.

“Clearly, these days, Kimi is worth more than him. If Mercedes had to choose between him and Kimi to keep, they’d probably pick [Kimi] at the moment.

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“If he is in this position, trying to get another good team is going to be much harder now because everyone had high expectations of him until last year. That’s motor racing for you, because you’re only as good as your last race.

“If he’d won [on Sunday], fine, maybe he’d have made the cut, but again, it would have been just another weekend, and if Kimi had finished, it would have been another weekend trailing the team. That’s how it is.”