George Russell hints at F1 title fight acceptance as 'reality' picture painted

George Russell has stated that his season wasn't "meant to be" as he sits on the verge of a title defeat to team-mate Kimi Antonelli.

Antonelli enters the United States Grand Prix 102 points clear of Russell in the drivers' standings and has his first opportunity to seal the title on Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas.

Russell has faced several hurdles throughout the year, including some reliability woes that have cost him valuable points.

However, the Briton has admitted that in the early stages of the season, his performances were not up to scratch in the fight against Antonelli.

"In terms of my mentality this season, my view of the championship has been up and down," Russell told media including RacingNews365.

"Early in the year when I had a big point deficit, the thing that was keeping me up at night was my lack of performance and thinking, 'how am I going to improve my performance? What do I need from a car?

"'What does the car need from my driving, rather than my opportunity maybe going amiss?'"

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Russell concedes to 'reality' of difficult F1 season

Russell managed to close the gap at the midpoint of the season when Antonelli had issues of his own, before the gap ballooned up once again in favour of the Italian.

While Russell acknowledged he has had his share of poor luck, the 28-year-old stated his own performances have not been up to standard in comparison to his team-mate.

"I came from 70 points down to within 25 points post-Silverstone, and then the gap extended," he said.

"Baku happened, that felt pretty big in terms of my chances again, and then of course, one week later, you [get] kicked down again, and salt added to the wound with the grid penalty in Singapore.

"This season just hasn't meant to be. I'm not bitter about it.

"I'll look back on the areas I could have done better and should have done better, as opposed to things that have been out of my control that have gone against me.

"As much [that] has gone against me in terms of bad luck, there's been as much of my performances that haven't been to the scratch that I know I'm capable of.

"That's the reality of it."