George Russell urged to launch comeback bid like Lando Norris after Monaco miss

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has told George Russell to use Lando Norris’ comeback world championship win as fuel that he can still land his maiden title.

Russell failed to score for the second race in succession in Monaco after he was forced to serve a drive-through penalty following a pit-stop mistake by his Mercedes team.

The British driver is now 68 points behind team-mate Kimi Antonelli in the standings after the Italian teenager won for a fifth consecutive time.

Like Russell, Norris won the opening round of last season, but then fell away as he struggled for form before an engine failure at the 15th round of 24 in Zandvoort left him 34 points behind McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.

However, Norris clawed Piastri back in – and also held off a resurgent Max Verstappen who himself had been 104 points off the championship pace – to take the title at the final race.

And Wolff said: “I talked with George yesterday and today. This is a long championship. Last year I remember people saying Piastri has won the championship.

“It’s not necessarily only about one year, but it’s many years. Luck swings your direction, and then sometimes it doesn’t. And it’s not a question of not knowing how to drive.

“It’s about having a car underneath that you feel confident with and that you can go fast. Formula One is about physics and not mystics. You don’t unlearn how to drive, so I’m not stressed at all for these performances, because we know he’s one of the best.”

Russell has been beset by a run of bad luck – which he described after Sunday’s race in the principality as “beyond frustration” and an “incredibly difficult pill to swallow”.

However, the 19-year-old Antonelli, who was no match for Russell last year, has been quicker than his