George Russell confirms rookie Kimi Antonelli will hold equal influence at Mercedes F1, despite Russell’s status as the senior driver.
Russell believes Kimi Antonelli is up to the task of filling the vacancy left by Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes F1.
Hamilton will join Ferrari next year, ending his long and highly successful partnership with Mercedes.
The Brackley-based team has opted to sign their junior driver, Antonelli, to replace the seven-time world champion.
Russell has now become Mercedes F1’s most experienced driver. However, he stated this would not have a significant impact on the engineers they rely on.
“In the end, for most F1 teams, you have nearly 1,000 people working on building these two cars, but only two drivers behind the wheel.”
“And, in my case, Lewis never had a stronger voice. The team listened to both of us equally because both our opinions were extremely important.”
Russell expects Antonelli to bring fresh ideas to the engineers despite his lack of F1 experience.
“It’s the same for next year. Kimi is new, he’s fresh. And I’m sure he’ll bring many great ideas.”
“I’m the more experienced of the two, but we’ll both have the same voice.”
“We’ll contribute to development in the same way it was with Lewis and me.”
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George Russell Backs Antonelli as Equal Partner in Mercedes George Russell Backs Antonelli as Equal Partner in Mercedes
