{"id":727154,"date":"2026-06-10T09:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T09:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/727154\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T09:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T09:10:11","slug":"why-underdog-antonelli-feels-he-has-nothing-to-lose-in-response-to-russells-mind-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/727154\/","title":{"rendered":"Why \u201cunderdog\u201d Antonelli feels he has \u201cnothing to lose\u201d in response to Russell\u2019s mind games"},"content":{"rendered":"

After George Russell<\/a> said that Kimi Antonelli\u2019s<\/a>huge Formula 1 world championship lead means the title is \u201chis to lose\u201d, the Italian responded with his own assessment as he insists he won\u2019t get drawn into mind games.<\/p>\n

Russell made the assertion going into the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, with many figuring it to be the first mind game played between the Mercedes<\/a> team-mates who look set to fight for the title in 2026.<\/p>\n

However, after initially brushing off the comment, Antonelli\u2019s response was a dominant victory \u2013 plus pole, leading every lap and setting the fastest lap to become the youngest F1 driver to complete a grand slam \u2013 and coupled with Russell\u2019s penalty-laden\u00a0run to 12th the gap between the two has grown to 68 points. Big enough for Lewis Hamilton<\/a> to slot into second place in the standings, 66 points behind the Italian 19-year-old.<\/p>\n

Speaking during the Monaco GP weekend, Antonelli dismissed Russell\u2019s comments as he felt it was too early to focus on the title fight with at least 16 rounds to go after Monaco \u2013 but did find a way to deliver his own retort in the mind games.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the first time we\u2019ve seen mind games. People always try to shift the pressure onto their opponent, whether it\u2019s an external rival or a team-mate \u2013 it doesn\u2019t make much difference. Fortunately, those things don\u2019t really affect me,\u201d Antonelli told Motorsport.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still only in the first third of the season, and I think it\u2019s definitely too early to start talking about a title showdown. I\u2019m working race by race.<\/p>\n

\"Andrea <\/p>\n

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, crosses the finish line to win the Monaco Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Photo by: Andrej Isakovic \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, at the end of each weekend I take a look at the standings, but immediately afterwards my focus is already on the next race. When I lower the visor and head out on track, I\u2019m not thinking about the championship. I race to do the best job possible. And, as I\u2019ve already said, since I haven\u2019t won anything yet, I have nothing to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

The approach of taking the season race by race isn\u2019t an unfamiliar one, but given\u00a0Antonelli\u2019s healthy lead in the championship, admittedly with so many races still to go, considering himself still to be the underdog against Russell is intriguing.<\/p>\n

Whether it is a predetermined mindset or something he genuinely believes right now is negligible, but his comments about why Russell should be considered the favourite is a barb that has been planted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal is to win as many races as possible and, as a consequence, the championship. I\u2019m aware that opportunities like this don\u2019t come along often, but at the same time I\u2019m still the underdog, and that\u2019s a position I don\u2019t mind,\u201d Antonelli said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore the season started, everyone saw George as the clear favourite, and I think that prediction was justified. He has the complete package required to fight for the title, including the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antonelli compounded his title fight comments by highlighting a factor nobody can truly measure yet, even the Italian himself: his full potential.<\/p>\n

\"Andrea <\/p>\n

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes<\/p>\n

Photo by: Sam Bagnall \/ Sutton Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Mercedes protege\u2019s meteoric rise, first from karting and through the junior single-seater ranks, and then from F1 rookie to world championship leader means his rate and time to improve is both significant and unknown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe I can still improve in many areas,\u201d Antonelli explained. \u201cThere\u2019s no denying that these victories have given me a lot of confidence, but at the same time I know I have to keep working hard to unlock my full potential. And that\u2019s exactly what motivates me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think many people expected a start to the season like this, considering this is only my second year in Formula 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s possible that, together with my young age, this leads some people to believe there\u2019s still plenty of room for improvement. Maybe that\u2019s also why George sees me as a particularly dangerous rival in the fight for the world championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antonelli might have struck a chord there. At the rate he is breaking F1 records as a teenager, his full potential will be a concern for Russell regardless of how the next few races unfold.<\/p>\n

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– The Autosport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After George Russell said that Kimi Antonelli\u2019shuge Formula 1 world championship lead means the title is \u201chis to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[3032,49,48,255891,578,576,577,3024,1881,249565,82,262319],"class_list":["post-727154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-andrea-kimi-antonelli","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-circuit-de-monaco","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-george-russell","tag-mercedes","tag-monaco-gp","tag-sports","tag-why-u201cunderdogu201d-antonelli-feels-he-has-u201cnothing-to-loseu201d-in-response-to-russellu2019s-mind-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}