"Right now he's performing better than me," says George Russell of teammate Kimi Antonelli as he seeks to raise his game.

Whatever one might think of Kimi Antonelli's performance at Monza, the stark reality is that, despite starting from nineteenth on the grid, he won. While his teammate, starting from the front row, finished second.

Yes, Russell completed almost the entire race on the same set of tyres, and Mercedes clearly messed up in not pitting him under the VSC, but the fact is that he left the Autodromo Nazionale 66 points adrift of his teammate.

Russell was unusually magnanimous in defeat, and surprisingly didn't question his team's strategy, at least not publicly, but maybe he should take a leaf out of rivals books and seek to stamp his authority before it becomes not a case of whether Antonelli will win the title but when.

Speaking in Spain today, Russell admitted that it isn't looking good and that he needs to raise his game.

"I need some luck, and I need some good performances," the Briton told reporters. "You know, it's not really something I'm thinking about," he continued, "because, as I said, right now he's performing better than me, so he deserves to be leading the championship.

"There's still a long way to go," he insisted, as he went on to suggest that his teammate needs a weekend where things don't go to plan, ironic when you consider that last year was one of many races in which Antonelli appeared to be losing the plot.

"He's yet to have a bad weekend in terms of performance, so he's performing exceptionally well," said Russell. "If I want to win this championship, I'm going to need some luck on the way, but it's not something I'm focused on. I'm focused on driving faster and just finding more performance."

The Briton insists that there is light at the end of the tunnel, with his qualifying performances improving his race pace much closer to his teammate's.

"I'm working on it, and I think it's been much improved, so I'm very pleased with that sort of step I've taken."

Russell is one of many drivers to claim that the need to adapt their driving style as a result of the 2026 regs has compromised their performance.

"Fundamentally changing the driving style, I think, is achievable for a lot of drivers, but then actually being fast with it is another topic," he said. "I feel my performance since the summer break has been... I've qualified ahead of him in the three qualifying sessions, and my race pace has been on a par with him in these two races, and I couldn't say that pre-break.

"As I said, I'm definitely very pleased with that progression, we'll just have to see where the rest of the season takes us."