George Russell strikes defiant tone after 'real tough' spell

George Russell is choosing to look at the bigger picture after Kimi Antonelli denied him victory at the Italian Grand Prix, pointing to a marked improvement in his form since the summer break.

Russell started second on the grid at Monza and led the majority of the race, only to be overhauled by his Mercedes team-mate in the closing laps after the 20-year-old took advantage of a Virtual Safety Car to pit for fresh tyres.

Having started 19th following a power unit penalty, Antonelli's charge through the field was remarkable, and Russell was generous in his assessment of his team-mate's performance.

"It was obviously a great race all around from a neutral perspective," the Briton told media, including RacingNews365. "As soon as I saw Kimi up to P5 after just a handful of laps, I knew he was going to be in the fight with us.

"So clearly that was a very impressive opening few laps, and it was just very challenging to break the slipstream. I think whoever was leading would then be vulnerable to being overtaken again, so I think that's what helped drag a lot of cars along in those early laps."

A welcome change from Russell's pre-summer woes

Although his second-place finish will be a difficult pill to swallow, given where Antonelli started, it continued the trend that has had Russell in far better spirits than before the shutdown.

His run into the summer break was particularly brutal, and ended a painful period in which Russell was looking for answers to his wayward form.

A first-lap collision at Spa-Francorchamps with Lewis Hamilton ended his race on the spot, and a subdued seventh at the Hungaroring meant he scored just six points across the final two rounds before the break.

That came after a strong three-race stretch of podiums, including victory in Austria, but the momentum evaporated over that final double-header before the summer.

Since the season resumed, the picture has been considerably brighter. Russell won the sprint at Zandvoort before finishing third in the Dutch Grand Prix, and followed that with his front-running display at Monza, despite finishing almost four seconds behind Antonelli.

"But I'm going to take the positives from the weekend because, for me personally, pre-summer break it was a real tough run of form," the seven-time grand prix winner added.

"Come back since the break, with the sprint and the two races, we've been in the top three in all of them.

"So, of course, I would have loved to have won today, but the performance is far better than I've had pre-shutdown."