F1 sensation Antonelli has teammate Russell against the wall heading into Barcelona
MONTMELO: This was supposed to be George Russell ‘s chance to shoot for the Formula 1 title. Coming into the season as Mercedes’s presumptive lead driver, with his team producing the best car after a rulebook overhaul, Russell looked perfectly positioned to compete for the world championship after winning the year’s opening race in Australia. That was when his second-year teammate Kimi Antonelli blew past him and took the Formula 1 circuit by storm. Antonelli has made F1 history on several counts this season. At age 19, he became the youngest pole-sitter en route to his first win in China, followed by becoming F1’s youngest points leader after a win in Japan. The bushy-haired Italian just kept going, sweeping the alliterative triple of Miami, Montreal and Monaco to make it five in a row and tie the longest winning streak ever managed by F1 victory leader Lewis Hamilton. He will now try to make it six of six at the newly renamed Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix — the race formerly known as the Spanish GP — on Sunday. And while he’s perfectly aware that he is now the driver to beat, Antonelli is trying not to let it get to him. “About the championship, I am not really worrying about it,” he said on Thursday at the Montmelo track.