Teammate Russell needs to use his Mercedes tools better

Record-breaking winning streaks, consecutive podium finishes after starting at the back of the grid, and an overall spectacular sophomore drive from Kimi Antonelli have all culminated in the young Italian possibly claiming the Circuit of the Americas as his championship crowning circuit.

Today, Antonelli could cross the start-finish line in Texas a champion, while Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finish fifth and ninth, respectively.

At this stage, his priority should be race management and ensuring he finishes on the podium in the last six races, which would be enough to secure him the championship. But the 20-year-old would most probably see the idea of racing without aiming to win as sacrilege; such is his unrelenting ambition.

With the pace that Russell is exhibiting this weekend, especially in qualifying yesterday, it is unlikely that scenario will come to pass. “Mr Saturday” is doing his best to make sure his Silver Arrow teammate does not see that trophy at the weekend — or any other weekend — as the British driver still has a mathematical chance of winning it all, even if in reality that chance is slim.

Russell, as with the rest of the grid, will have to contend with what Max Verstappen has described as an “unacceptable” track due to the uneven surface in Texas. While, the Circuit of the Americas is a favourite among the drivers, as Verstappen has said, its lumpy nature is unavoidable, as it is built over soft, clay-like soil that moves up and down as weather, rainfall, and ground moisture levels fluctuate over time.

It means that, regardless of the efforts of the track’s management, headed by Bobby Epstein, there is little that can be done, as even the repaving of turns nine and 11 before this weekend has had minor effects on improving the track’s state. The consequences of these bumps have already been seen in Friday’s free practice session as Lando Norris and others found themselves off the track at the apex of turns one, 11 and 20.

Overtaking dives

Although it had little effect on the quality of qualifying, the racing tonight could be dictated by what happens in those corners, as the cars fight for control and when attempting overtaking dives.

As expected, Ferrari looked strong with Charles Leclerc topping the practice session timings. Their advantage, however, is slim, as he was less than a hundredth of a second ahead across the practices, although the sweeping consecutive corners in the first sector and first half of the second highlight the Scuderia’s superiority in the corners and their ability to accelerate out of them.

Their compact power unit’s deficiencies in generating top-end speed and synchronising with the battery to generate power compared to their rivals mean that over a race distance, Leclerc and Hamilton will have to call on their expertise if they want to make something of their race.

It’s a reality Hamilton has had to accept all season long, as he has dragged his car to competitive race finishes at times this season. Despite mounting what looked like a title challenge for part of the season, the Ferrari team still has much work to do before they can aid their man in chasing that elusive eighth championship.

Being behind his teammate by some margin all weekend doesn’t bode well for his race tonight. However, having driven beyond expectation in a race in and a race out, it wouldn’t be beyond the man who’s won the most times around this circuit to manage another brilliant drive.

Russell has, over the course of a remarkable season for the Mercedes team, turned a rocket ship into a U-boat in his failing bid for the championship. While the rocketman Antonelli has skipped swimmingly across the F1 sea, collecting win after impressive win, Russell has been flaccid. He is firmly in crunch time and must point his ship squarely in the direction of victory and sink his challengers to stand any chance of at least delaying what seems inevitable.