George Russell sets unusual target to snap back title momentum

George Russell has set himself the unusual target of being able to learn and develop "subconsciously" after his early-season drubbing by Kimi Antonelli.

After winning in Australia, Russell was then defeated to five successive grand prix wins by Antonelli in the sister Mercedes, although he was leading in Canada when he broke down with a power unit failure.

The Briton now finds himself 50 points behind Antonelli in the standings, having struggled for feel and balance in his W17, whilst the Italian has "clicked" with the new generation of car.

Charting what he feels he must do to recover, Russell recalled a simulator session in which his subconscious learning took over - and how he intends to recapture that.

"There always needs to be improvements, because when you're driving with a new car and new tyres, you need to evolve," Russell told media, including RacingNews365.

"But what I've observed, and this is different for everybody, but what I've observed from myself when I look back over the years, is that my driving style naturally evolved to the limitations of the car and the tyres. 

"I didn't chase the solution, I didn't deep dive into the data, spending so much time trying to work out what the problem was, and then on track thinking how I'm going to solve the problem. It just naturally evolved. 

"I had an example on the simulator a couple of years ago, and I did two days in a row. On the first day, I was driving really well, and I did a whole day in Barcelona, and I came in the next day on my second lap, I went two-tenths faster, and I thought to myself: 'How on earth did I just go two times faster on my second lap the day compared to doing 100 laps the day before?' Yeah, 

"I spoke with somebody about this. You just subconsciously learn what happened, and I didn't think I was driving any differently, but the brain just automatically learned, and that's where I want to find myself. I want to go back to that place where I'm subconsciously learning how to improve and not chasing those answers because I know I can do it, and I've done it my whole career, and that's what I'm excited about. 

"It's clicking for Kimi, so he hasn't chased it, it's just clicking for him perfectly well, and I know it can click for me again, as it did in Australia and China."