19-year-old Kimi Antonelli replaces the experienced George Russell at Mercedes. This comes as no surprise to longtime Formula 1 driver Riccardo Patrese.
The driver, who competed in 256 Grand Prix races (six wins, second in the 1992 World Championship to Nigel Mansell), delivers a scathing verdict on New Betting Sites: “George Russell always makes excuses when things don’t go well; That’s not the mindset of a champion.”
For 72-year-old Patrese, the best example is the recent race in Belgium: “A failure for Russell because he was in the wrong place. Lewis got a penalty for the collision, but Lewis said it was a racing incident. George simply positioned his car incorrectly at Le Combes.”
“Hamilton couldn’t just vanish into thin air in that situation. The contact was caused by Russell being in the wrong place, especially on the first lap, and as a title contender you just have to be a little more careful there. George Russell unnecessarily put himself in a dangerous position and he paid a heavy price for it.”
“Russell is in a state of mind at the moment where he clearly thinks the odds are stacked against him. But that naturally only makes his performances worse. When you get into that mindset, where you think the odds are stacked against you, you’re automatically not at your best.”
“If Russell would get himself in a better mood, he could probably go faster. But he really always thinks that something is working against him. And he’s always trying to make excuses, and that’s just not the mindset you should have if you want to fight for a world title.”
“Russell definitely has the car to have his say in the title race. I think his mood is probably down to Kimi, who seems to be feeling just the opposite – he appears on cloud nine and becomes more confident with every success. We have two very different mindsets here and that makes the gap between the two drivers even more astonishing.”