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George Russell is expected to turn his recent woes in F1 around at the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix, but has been told by professional racing car driver, Mike Hezemans, that he will be ‘out of excuses’ if he records anything less than a win.
After kicking F1’s new era of regulations off with a perfect weekend at the Australian Grand Prix, George Russell has struggled to get the better of his younger teammate, Kimi Antonelli. The Italian driver is currently on a three-race win streak and leads the F1 standings.
If Kimi Antonelli wins the title, how much would it damage George Russell’s reputation?
It’s been a rather surprising start to the campaign for the 28-year-old, who was at the top of many pundits’ lists as a title favourite this year. Russell has been widely regarded as one of the best drivers on the grid without a title to his name.
Amid Antonelli’s rout in South Beach, Russell simply put it down to his failure to gel with circuits that are notorious for low grip. Given his recent track record in Montreal, he has been tipped to get his title fight back on track.
- READ MORE: David Coulthard says Toto Wolff is harsher on George Russell than ‘little baby’ Kimi Antonelli
Mike Hezemans says George Russell will be ‘out of excuses’ if he doesn’t win in Canada
During an interview with RacingNews365, Dutch racing driver Mike Hezemans was asked for his thoughts on Russell’s mental state following Antonelli’s dominance of the top step of the podium at recent race weekends.
Antonelli currently leads the drivers’ standings by 20 points, owing to his three consecutive Grand Prix victories, and Russell’s podium-less streak at the last two rounds of racing.
Should Toto Wolff treat George Russell harsher than Kimi Antonelli?
“It’s very strange,” Hezemans opined. “Either Antonelli has made such a massive leap, or perhaps the car just doesn’t suit Russell right now, similar to the issues Hamilton faced for a long time with these ground-effect cars.
“Meanwhile, Antonelli has so much confidence. It’s brilliant and impressive, but we’ll have to wait and see. When you get down to the final three races, the pressure hits a whole new level – we saw that with Norris and Piastri last year.”
Hezemans then touched upon Russell’s reasoning for his pace deficit to Antonelli in Miami, where he blamed the gap between them on the fact that low-grip circuits have always been an issue for him.
- READ MORE: James Hinchcliffe admits Toto Wolff’s treatment of Kimi Antonelli is making him ‘nervous’
F1 pundit Juan Pablo Montoya was under the impression that Russell had ‘given up’ in Miami after hearing his qualms, while Hezemans believes the Briton will no longer have any excuses if he doesn’t make up for it this weekend in Montreal.
“Russell has never been my favourite, but there’s no denying he is incredibly fast – he just didn’t show it in Miami,” Hezemans added. “If he had won, he would not have blamed the grip.
“He usually claims he excels on high-grip tracks and struggles on low-grip ones, but Japan has plenty of grip, and he still underperformed. If Antonelli wins again, he’s out of excuses. That will really break him.”
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