Russell still has ground to make up and the pre-season favourite has been honest in admitting how he has struggled to adapt to this season\u2019s new cars<\/a>. How well he does so, at Spa and in the future, will be key to his title tilt. In Belgium he painted a picture of the task.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like if somebody asked you to draw the Mona Lisa and you\u2019ve got the Mona Lisa next to you, do you think you could achieve it straight away?\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe with practice, you will.<\/p>\n \u201cWith these new power units, with these new tyres, with these new cars, I\u2019m having to set the car up in a way that has not been suited to my driving. I\u2019m having to drive in a way that I haven\u2019t driven in my whole career and I\u2019m having to adapt to this.\u201d<\/p>\n There has been no enigmatic smile from Russell, rather he has been forthright all season, not hiding from the problems he is having but equally refusing to be cowed. Even when Antonelli had built that immense lead, the British driver stoically kept his head down and insisted there was still a long way to go. It is unlikely even he expected it to quite turn on a dime in three races, however.<\/p>\n Antonelli suffered a battery failure in Barcelona<\/a> while in second place and at Silverstone<\/a> was closing down the race leader, Charles Leclerc, until a wheel-shield failure on his front left made the car almost impossible to handle \u2013 he finished 15th.<\/p>\n Kimi Antonelli sought some cross-sport advice from the great Roger Federer during his time in the Wimbledon Royal Box. Photograph: Adrian Dennis\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Russell took second in Spain and at Silverstone yet he was under no illusions that a corner had been turned. \u201cI\u2019m not going to fight for a championship if the performances continue like that,\u201d he pointedly observed after the British GP.<\/p>\n Antonelli has found a more natural symmetry with the car, perhaps a factor of his age and short time in the sport, while Russell, in his eighth F1 season, is suddenly having to second-guess his own instincts, an immense task in any sporting discipline.<\/p>\n \u201cI know exactly what I need to do,\u201d he said. \u201cBut going out and then achieving it when I\u2019ve driven for 20 years in a certain way and even more so, it\u2019s been working for 20 years \u2026 Now suddenly it\u2019s working 50% of the time but 50% of the other time it\u2019s not working. Trying to recognise, is it going to work this weekend my normal way? Or do I need to adapt my approach?<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I\u2019ve performed at my very best I\u2019ve just been performing subconsciously, not even been thinking about driving and now you\u2019re having to think, trying to make these new techniques become subconscious techniques. That is the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
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