Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have not had an ideal start to their Mexico GP preparations

George Russell gives Kimi Antonelli verdict

George Russell has insisted that Kimi Antonelli's success has not led to tension between the Mercedes teammates. Antonelli could clinch the world title in Mexico this weekend, with Russell outlining that his own performances have helped avoid any awkwardness, despite being second in the standings.

“On a personal level, Kimi is obviously a great guy and lots of energy,” Russell said. “We’ve had no reason this year not to continue a good relationship.

“I think a lot of these rivalries start because of on-track incidents or actions, and 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 in itself, we sort of keep ourselves to ourselves and work with our individual engineers to try and get the most out of it.”