Kimi Antonelli concedes Mercedes struggle after George Russell defeat

Kimi Antonelli has conceded that he has been struggling at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix after suffering defeat to George Russell in qualifying.

Antonelli is on a run of five consecutive victories and leads the drivers' championship by 66 points, although he was three tenths slower than his team-mate in the fight for pole position.

The championship leader could not even secure a front-row start, with Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton splitting the Mercedes duo following an impressive lap.

While the 19-year-old missed out on pole position and a front-row start, he does believe he has strong long-run pace.

"Yeah, it's been a little bit of a difficult weekend so far for me," said Antonelli. "I didn't really have the feeling with the car.

"The long run was strong yesterday, so that's a positive, but today I've been lacking a little bit. I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

Barcelona represents the first time Antonelli has qualified behind Russell since the Canadian Grand Prix, although he did win on that occasion. 

Asked for his chances in the race, Antonelli replied: "Yeah, we'll try to get a good start and then, for sure, we'll try to make the best use of the tow. 

"Also, we won't be using any Straight Mode [at the start], so the slipstream is definitely going to be even stronger.

"So, yeah, there's obviously a lot of work to do in order to be ready for tomorrow."