George Russell is unfazed by Kimi Antonelli’s F1 win streak – but perhaps he should be

To his credit, George Russell is putting on a brave face. Crouching down for the now customary post-race team celebration photo, surrounded by dozens of colleagues in aqua blue ‘P1’ t-shirts, the Mercedes driver is smiling courteously, doing his bit for the greater good. In front of the microphones and dictaphones, too, the Briton is showing no signs of feathers being ruffled.

On the contrary, after finishing off the podium for the second consecutive race while his teenage teammate Kimi Antonelli claimed his third successive victory of the season in Miami – opening up a 20-point world championship lead in the process – Russell’s message was clear. “To be honest, I’m not even considering it (the gap),” he said. “Clearly, Kimi’s in a really great place at the moment and momentum is with him.

But I’ve got enough experience myself in championships I’ve won on how momentum swings throughout a year and also looking at the championship last year. ” George Russell smiles in the Mercedes team photo after Kimi Antonelli’s victory (Getty Images) Deep down, however, one wonders whether even a flicker of concern is entering Russell’s demeanour. Antonelli, so poised beyond his 19 years, was again presented with the race-winning opportunity by a clever Mercedes strategy call, with his mid-race undercut seeing him overtake McLaren’s Lando Norris – who otherwise may well have been on for the win around Miami Gardens.

Yet when the opportunity opened up, with the reigning world champion consistently within a second of his gearbox, Antonelli’s pace remained solid. Sure, there were audible anxieties over team radio, dutifully minimised by his experienced race engineer Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington, formerly Lewis Hamilton’s man-in-ear. But Antonelli was good value for the win, becoming the first F1 driver ever to win his first three races from pole – and consecutively.