George Russell shares honest Kimi Antonelli opinion: 'The truth is...'

George Russell has openly acknowledged that Kimi Antonelli has been operating at a "higher level" this season, insisting their relationship remains strong despite the shifting intra-team dynamics at Mercedes.

Antonelli is on the cusp of clinching his first F1 drivers' championship, needing a mere two points from the Mexico City Grand Prix.

However, coming into the campaign, Russell was the bookmakers' favourite and was widely expected to waltz to the title — even if that diminishes the enormity of claiming motorsport's most illustrious crown.

Nonetheless, it was heavily anticipated — even within the F1 paddock — that the Briton would be coronated at the end of the season, not his significantly less experienced team-mate.

But Antonelli has come on leaps and bounds over the course of the campaign and has dominated large chunks of the schedule.

Although team-mate title-battles often cause internal friction, as they famously did at Mercedes a decade ago with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg vying for supremacy, Russell is adamant that relations with Antonelli are still good.

"On a personal level, Kimi is obviously a great guy with lots of energy," Russell told media, including RacingNews365.

"We've had no reason this year not to continue a good relationship."

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Brutal admission from Russell

Recently, reigning champion Lando Norris argued that Antonelli has been "two levels" above Russell, which appears to be something his compatriot agrees with.

The 28-year-old pointed out how few on-track skirmishes he and Antonelli have shared, which he believes has helped keep the partnership healthy.

"I think a lot of these rivalries start because of on-track incidents or actions," Russell added. "The truth is he's been at a higher level than me this year, so we've not really been in that situation too often."

"We've had one or two races, and when it comes to the race itself, we sort of keep ourselves to ourselves and work with our individual engineers to try and get the most out of it."

Russell goes into the 71-lap race at the Autodrómo Hermanos Rodríguez starting second on the grid behind Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, with Antonelli lining up in fourth.