George Russell is hopeful Mercedes’ long-awaited car upgrade at the Bahrain Grand Prix will further help his performances as he bids to build on his return to winning ways from Azerbaijan last week.
Russell dominated the Baku event to not only secure his first win in seven races but also claim the maiden ‘Grand Slam’ of his Formula 1 career, meaning he led every lap from pole position and set the fastest lap.
The Briton had been happier with his performances in Mercedes’ W17 since the August summer break, yet he had still finished behind title-leading team-mate Kimi Antonelli in each of the previous three races, with Antonelli extending his championship advantage to 81 points after victory in Madrid.
But after reducing that deficit by 15 points last Saturday on a weekend that Antonelli finished only fifth after crashing in qualifying, Russell is feeling optimistic as he goes in search of the first back-to-back wins of his F1 career on the sport’s return to Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit – a track neither of the title contenders have driven on before.
“As I’ve really said this whole season, firstly I never really felt in a position to fight for the victories because I didn’t feel that the performances were strong enough,” replied Russell when asked if another win could sow some doubts in Antonelli’s mind.
“But now, finally, I feel I’m in a place where I can fight for victory week in week out.
“Of course, there is a big deficit in the championship but we’re only two thirds of the way through. There’s a third of the season to go and still so much can happen.
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“So I’m just going to go race by race. I’m enjoying it more than I have done recently, just because I feel more at one with the car, and hopefully this new upgrade with a few characteristic changes are also going to play into my favour a bit more. So, bring it on.”
Discussing what had changed for him, Russell said that “I don’t really feel lost anymore” and that his “confidence is back and growing again”.
“It’s definitely been a conscious adjustment of my driving,” he explained.
“I think I went through a few races when I was having to think how to make those adjustment, whereas now it’s all a bit more intuitive and natural.
“What I set out to achieve in terms of getting the car in a slightly better window, I’m now achieving without having to think about it as much, so I can just focus on driving fast.”
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Russell reiterated that all the pressure was on Antonelli in the chase for the Drivers’ Championship over the closing two months of the season.
“For sure there’s a lot of pressure in his position,” added Russell.
“For any driver fighting for your world championship there’s a lot of pressure. At this point of the season it is his to lose so, from my side, I’m just going to go out there and enjoy every race.”
‘My grandmother went back home!’ – Antonelli hopes to learn from Baku lessons
Despite finishing only fifth at the last race, Antonelli remains in firm control of the world championship with his 66-point lead still the joint-second highest he has held this season.
But the 20-year-old Italian said that the events of last week had taught him some valuable lessons.
“Last weekend was probably the worst weekend from me, from my side, of the season,” said Antonelli.
“But still very good learning from the weekend. It was also a very strange race for me in Baku [from 16th on the grid] because it was one of those races where I consciously tried not to take any risk and just drive under the limit, which was very weird but it was a good and what I needed. I needed a clean result after a very disrupted weekend.
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“But after the race I wasn’t happy with the result but I learned many things and the most important learning is I need to always be 100 per cent and I really do my best to achieve the best result.
“If I don’t try to do everything right in my power than nothing is going to come my way.”
And having joked that he had driven like his grandmother, Antonelli quipped on Thursday: “My grandmother went back home! I booked her a flight and she’s back in Italy!”
On Russell, Antonelli added: “He did an incredible weekend in Baku and he’s got the momentum.
George has been doing great, especially last weekend, so it’s going to be a tough challenge but I’m looking forward to it.”
What are Mercedes expecting from Malaysia car upgrade?
Russell and Antonelli’s prospects of winning on Sunday are set to be boosted by the introduction of an upgrade package for the W17, Mercedes’ first significant update since the Canadian Grand Prix in late May.
“It’s a good step,” said Russell. “We think it’s a good step purely because it’s been so long since we last brought some upgrades.
“It’s quite abnormal to have an upgrade back in May and then only again in October.
“So, as an individual upgrade step it’s large, but in a normal season it’s just the normal trajectory you would expect from a May to October upgrade package.
“Hoping it’s going to propel us back to the front on these types of circuits, which have been more challenging for us in the past six races.”
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Mercedes have won the last three races to extend their lead over Ferrari at the top of the Constructors’ Championship to 160 points. However, two of those tracks – Monza and Baku – played to the strengths of their engine, while Antonelli was fortunate to win on the streets of Madrid after a Virtual Safety Car helped him and hindered McLaren’s Lando Norris.
“I think we have a very efficient car on the circuits that are lower drag, so in Azerbaijan, Monza we were very competitive. Red Bull were also on the podium in Monza as well as in Azerbaijan,” added Russell.
“I expect Malaysia to be slightly more closer to the circuits of Madrid, Budapest, Zandvoort, where we saw likes of Ferrari and McLaren competing strongly, so that’s going to be an interesting one.”
Antonelli is also keen to see how the aerodynamic changes will help the team on a track where medium-high-speed cornering is a crucial part of the lap.
“I think this weekend is the right one to bring it,” he said.
“Our car is very efficient. It’s not draggy, especially on tracks like Monza, Baku, where we were very quick because it’s new tarmac, short corners.
“Whilst I think in these type of tracks without the upgrade we would struggle. For example, Zandvoort McLaren was very quick and Zandvoort has very open tarmac. So I think this race was the right one to bring the upgrades and see if we can improve on these kind of tracks with long corners and very old tarmac.”
Sky Sports F1’s live schedule Bahrain GP in Malaysia
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Friday October 2
5am: Bahrain GP Practice One (session starts at 5.30am)*
7.30am: Team Bosses’ Press Conference
8.45am: Bahrain GP Practice Two (session starts at 9am)*
10.15am: The F1 Show*
Saturday October 3
5.15am: Bahrain GP Practice Three (session starts at 5.30am)*
8am: Bahrain GP Qualifying build-up*
9am: BAHRAIN GP QUALIFYING*
Sunday October 4
6.30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Bahrain GP build-up*
8am: THE BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX*
10am: Chequered Flag: Bahrain GP reaction*
*also on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 heads to Malaysia for the first time since 2017 as it hosts the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit – watch live coverage from Friday morning, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime