George Russell: Not expecting to be faster than Kimi Antonelli

George Russell has admitted that he does not expect to be faster than his new rookie team-mate, Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

The British driver argues that he doesn’t feel any faster today than he did when he made his Formula 1 debut in 2019, the only edge he brings is the experience he has gained over his six seasons in the sport. 

Speaking to the media, including Motorsport.com, ahead of the 2025 season-opening race in Australia, Russell was asked if he feels he needs to be well ahead of his Italian team-mate now that he is alongside a rookie instead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton. He explained:

“No, not at all. Kimi’s an exceptional driver, and I’ve said this before, I don’t feel any faster today than when I was 18 years old, but I’m far more experienced. In a qualifying situation, if I have traffic on an outlap, I know how to deal with that. If my tyres are cold, if my tyres are hot, I know how to react to those circumstances. I know how to deal with the pressures of this sport as well.

“But in terms of outright pace, I don’t think I’m any faster today than I was 9 years ago now. You saw it with [Ollie] Bearman last year. Bearman did an amazing job when he jumped in. [Franco] Colapinto did a great job.

“And the same way as when we all jumped in, it was a bit difficult for me because I was with Williams at the back, but you know, when myself, Lando [Norris], Charles [Leclerc], Max [Verstappen] all came into the sport, straight away we were on the pace, so why wouldn’t a guy like Kimi be in the same boat?”

Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff has echoed Russell’s comments, confirming that he doesn’t expect the British driver to be “crushing” Antonelli.

“I said to George: ‘We don’t expect you to just be crushing Kimi all the time’.

“We wouldn’t have hired Kimi if we thought that would be the case. So, I believe in terms of speed, Kimi is going to be right up there with George. There’s a lot to learn in terms of long running the tyres, and the development is going to be steep.

“We have a driver combination of one very young driver, 18 years old, and another young driver, 27 years old, and hopefully they’re going to push each other, and push each other strong.”