In the best case scenario he could become world champion already in Austin on October 25th. But in the meantime with the new engine in testing he was only seventh, six tenths behind Russell in second behind Verstappen
It hasn’t been an easy week for Mercedes who showed up in Singapore with the news that George Russell will have to serve the penalty for the engine change and will therefore start from the back at the start of the grand prix. On the other hand, everything seemed to be going at full speed Kimi Antonelli, very fast towards the world title and with the possibility of increasing the advantage over his teammate. But the first day with the Sprint Race tests it didn’t bring good news. In addition to Verstappen’s best time (under investigation for overtaking Hamilton under the yellow flag regime) is R’s second halfussell ahead of Leclerc and only seventh for Antonelli. But what worries the Italian driver is the difference in performance of his car with the new engine compared to Russell’s with the old engine. Other than improvements, Kimi was six tenths late from his teammate, an enormity. The concerns at Mercedes evidently concern next year rather than the current one, given that winning the world championship is not in question, but it is impressive to see Antonelli behind all the drivers who are trying to conquer second place in the world rankings, given that the primacy will hardly escape Kimi.
The advantage and the opportunities
Seven grands prix remain to be contested after it was made official that they will take place in Qatar and Abu Dhabi and Kimi, by winning the next two grands prix in Singapore and the United States and also triumphing in the Sprint Race, would already be champion in Austin. In fact, the en plein gives them a current 84 point lead it would take him to more than 126 and at that point he would be unattainable for Russell who could score a maximum of 125 points in the remaining five grands prix. More likely the title will arrive on Nov. 1 in Mexico, at which point the lead should be 101 points over the Briton, while if he were to postpone the appointment in Brazil again, he would only need 76 points, less than the advantage he currently has over his teammate.
