The Dutchman was not kind to Russell
George Russell dominated the opening weekend in Australia, but then in China and Japan he suffered a ‘1-2’ that he certainly hadn’t expected from his garage teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Not only that, the race dynamics at Suzuka relegated Russell to fourth position, even off the podium, a 25-12 partial score in the comparison with Antonelli that sent Russell on ‘vacation’ at -9 from the Italian driver.
Read more Perez rejects Mario Andretti’s criticism: “I am in good driving form, it is not rusty”
David Coulthard has already invited Russell to ‘declare war’ sportingly speaking against Antonelli and from Christijan Albers came a more all-encompassing shake-up: “For now he has been an unaggressive driver and weak in duels who hasn’t taken risks – said the former Dutch driver guest on the podcast Telesport – in Japan at the start, for example, he had Norris on the outside, he could have opened the steering a bit and turned Norris into a lawnmower without being penalized because it was the McLaren driver who had put himself in a potentially dangerous position, but Russell did nothing. Even in China he was submissive, it seemed like he was driving thinking ‘go ahead, I’ll catch you later anyway’”.
Read more McLaren, the range of the future revealed in summer
Russell’s race conduct in these first races is more than understandable given that he is aware of having the best car on the starting grid and therefore avoiding trouble that could lead to zeros in the standings is a wise approach. Albers called Russell ‘softy’ – literally weak, limp, soft (Malesani would revolt) – but it is an ungenerous judgment towards a driver who is simply trying to manage his first season as the main candidate for the world title. Before calling Russell a ‘softy’, one must always remember that at Mugello in 2020 he took the Williams into Q2 by going onto the gravel at the exit of the Casanova-Savelli just to keep his foot down.
Read more Audi, Binotto takes full control: “But I need someone to support me at the GPs”
