George Russell does not think that the season of Andrea Kimi Antonelli could be evaluated only with scores. Although the Italian rookie has suffered a series of down turns since his initial momentum where he stood in second position in Canada, Russell has defended the youngster as experiencing a steady growth in spite of the dropping figures.

In the earlier races, Antonelli had shown a glimpse of a great future but this weekend, the rider had not done particularly well. That may sound like going backwards to external observers, but Russell reminds everyone that they are not as far apart as their finishing positions would indicate. Had he got pole in Canada, he said he only placed Antonelli 6/10 sec behind the pole. Russell qualified in Q3 in Belgium, with Antonelli eliminated in Q1, and also in Belgium the difference between them in lap time was mainly three tenths. The grid is now even tighter than before and these tenths can easily amount to half a dozen places instead of one or two.

The car that has been the most difficult to uphold has been that of Mercedes. A suspension upgrade designed to overcome handling problems back-fired instead on the team. They downgraded to the old design after four races saying the new one did not work. The changes were a shock and Antonelli, in particular, admitted struggling with new, natural car control and felt anxiety and unable to remember how to take control using his own driving style. That was bad news to a young driver still getting to grips with F1 machinery.

There should be nothing to discourage Russel though. He accepts that the team has been bad in the course of this run but is not worried that they will come back stronger after summer break. Steven also finds positive trends in the larger developments of the season, with Lewis Hamilton leaving Mercedes inducing a paradigm shift in the team as well as in the former racer. According to Russell a new beginning is what is needed, to open up progress.

Finally, Russell is able to defend Antonelli. The Italian is yet to have results commensurate with potential but his rate of progress is clear, he is keeping pace with Russell, and is having to come to terms with a potentially difficult car. Back in an 18-year-old rookie playing on a team struggling with its own technical tactics, the tell-tales are that the bumps in the road are just part and parcel of a broader learning process. And, should Russell be correct, then the gains are bound to come sooner or later anyway even as the efforts are already rated in leaps and bounds under the quiet.

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