George Russell names surprise desire after latest Kimi Antonelli defeat

George Russell has expressed his desire to "get through" the remainder of the Miami Grand Prix weekend after being drubbed by Kimi Antonelli. 

In both Sprint and grand prix qualifying, Russell was comprehensively outperformed by Antonelli, who roared to grand prix pole as Russell could only take fifth, to go with the sixth he had in the Sprint. 

Antonelli was 0.499s faster than Russell on Saturday afternoon in Miami, the biggest deficit between the two of the season, although Russell did reduce Antonelli's points lead from nine to seven in the Sprint after the Italian's five-second penalty dropped him from fourth on the road to sixth overall.

Reflecting on his difficult weekend, Russell explained how a mistake at the final corner had ruined his final Q3 lap on a "track I've always struggled with."

"I just made a mistake at the last corner on the last lap, I was about three-tenths up, and I'm a little bit annoyed, but this is a track I've always struggled with," Russell reflected to media, including RacingNews365. 

"Kimi was on Sprint pole last year, I was P5, today he is on pole, and it is just very low grip here, it's sliding around a lot, similar to Brazil.

"I prefer the high grip conditions where the tyre and the car are more connected to the ground, so I just want to get through this weekend, really."

When then asked if he had had an 'escape' due to Antonelli's penalty in the Sprint, turning the points loss into a points gain, Russell indicated that it was.

"It is a little bit, yeah," he said.

"I was pretty pleased with my pace, and obviously, if I did things slightly differently, I could have held the position when I initially overtook Kimi, but it is just qualifying that I've been struggling with this weekend."