Jolyon Palmer and James Hinchcliffe have identified the factors that could represent the biggest threats to Kimi Antonelli’s title hopes, picking out a potential resurgence for George Russell and Mercedes’ continued reliability concerns.
The Italian enjoyed a brilliant run of five victories in a row between China and Monaco, but car issues have held him back in the rounds since and he failed to score points in the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, as well as on Sunday at Silverstone.
Subsequently, Russell has been able to capitalise on his misfortune – which he has similarly experienced, most notably when he retired whilst leading in Canada – to reduce Antonelli’s advantage in the standings from 66 to 25 points, the equivalent of a race win.
On the latest episode of F1 Nation, former Renault driver Palmer chose the Briton’s recent revival, including standing on the top step at the Austrian Grand Prix and two further podiums, as Antonelli’s greatest concern in the increasingly tight championship battle.
“I would say Kimi’s biggest threat remains George,” he said. “Right now, George is fortunate to be 25 points away with his level of performance. But the case study showed last year; Lando [Norris] found the pace at the end of the year and he put a run together and Oscar [Piastri]’s form wasn’t sustainable.
“Kimi has been unlucky. You expect as a driver these things to give and take over the year. It already has done for Mercedes. If Kimi’s car keeps breaking down, he might not win the championship, but that’s out of his control.
“For me, it’s down to Russell finding his feet, putting in more of those Melbourne style performances where he looks like Russell of yesteryear again.”
IndyCar winner Hinchcliffe disagreed, instead believing that the reliability problems plaguing Mercedes could be the undoing of Antonelli’s season – a front-left wheel shield failure cut his fight for victory at the British Grand Prix short, and a mechanical issue ended his podium run in Spain.
Team Principal Toto Wolff has insisted that their reliability is “just not good enough”, especially with customer teams like McLaren and Williams also struggling with their power units.
Hinchcliffe explained: “I’m not sure if George lost his footing or if Kimi just really solidly found his. You watch on track, you see the attitude of the car, you see his aggression in wheel to wheel racing. It’s hard to bet against him at this point.
“Right now it seems like reliability is his biggest threat because without a big turnaround from George, I don’t see it being from the other side of the garage. Last year we were saying that George was probably the second most complete driver on the grid. He had such a stellar year and a slightly underperforming car.
“We’re a third of the way through the year now, and I think we can realistically point to two weekends, maybe three, where George outperformed Kimi from start to finish. Even when George has a good Friday and Saturday, by Sunday afternoon, Kimi just seems to have a little bit more, and it’s a numbers game.
“I’m playing the statistics. George, for whatever reason, this car hasn’t clicked in the same way that the last rules set didn’t click with Lewis [Hamilton].”
The threats that could derail Antonelli’s first shot at a championship were just one of the talking points that emerged in the Belgian Grand Prix preview, which saw Palmer and Hinchcliffe join F1 Nation host Tom Clarkson.
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