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F1 legend Damon Hill has offered a stern piece of advice to George Russell amid Kimi Antonelli’s continual dominance of the 2026 F1 season, telling him to stop the ‘mind games’ and simply drive faster.
With Kimi Antonelli entering the race weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix off the back of four consecutive victories to open his Grand Prix account in the sport, George Russell desperately needs to shift the momentum back in his favour to put up a proper challenge.
Kimi Antonelli’s last-gasp stunner seals Monaco GP pole 💥 Who will be leading out of Turn 1?
However, the young Italian dealt another blow to his more experienced teammate by snatching pole position away from Max Verstappen in the dying embers of Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session. It marks Antonelli’s four front-of-the-pack starts in 2026.
Russell has struggled throughout the entirety of the race weekend so far in the Principality and could only muster a P6 start for Sunday’s race.
- READ MORE: Damon Hill has one question for Charles Leclerc after seeing Kimi Antonelli take pole at Monaco GP
Damon Hill tells George Russell to stop the mind games and drive faster
Despite Toto Wolff asserting that he has no qualms with his drivers playing ‘mind games’, F1 pundit Damon Hill shared a differing opinion during BBC Radio 5 Live’s coverage of qualifying in Monaco.
“You can do as many mind games as you like, but the fact of the matter is, you need to be quicker,” the 1996 world champion said, as Antonelli led the final practice session of the weekend on Saturday afternoon.
What do you think of George Russell’s idea to scrap the race in Monaco in favour of an extra qualifying session?
“At the moment, Kimi is showing no signs of being intimidated by this circuit, and he just keeps piling on great performances. Currently, in this session, I would say he’s always been one step ahead of George.
“If he’s building up and keeping a little bit of that high-risk attack for later, then he’d better have that in his back pocket. At the moment, we haven’t seen any signs of it.”
Following his maiden Grand Prix victory at the Chinese Grand Prix this year, Antonelli made it clear that he will be ready for any ‘mind games’ his Mercedes counterpart may play with him.
His ability to brush off the pressure during the most important qualifying session of the year may have proved that he is now one of the F1 grid’s mentality monsters.
- READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton sends Kimi Antonelli ‘special’ message straight after taking Monaco Grand Prix pole
Damon Hill also warned George Russell about how ‘decisive’ the Monaco GP could be in the title race
Later on, during BBC Radio 5 Live’s coverage, Hill had some more words of warning for his compatriot as he highlighted just how important Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix may be in the championship landscape.
Antonelli currently leads the F1 standings with a 43-point advantage over Russell. If the race were to end in the same positions as qualifying, that advantage would turn into 60 points, and the Briton’s title hopes would be hanging by a thread.
“It seems odd to say this, but this could be a decisive race for the championship, because Kimi Antonelli should not be dominating things at this stage as such a young driver in F1,” Hill said ahead of qualifying.
“He certainly looks very comfortable here in Monaco, so George has got to respond if he’s going to think about becoming world champion this year.”
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