George Russell says he will not be concerned about trailing in the drivers’ championship until the summer break.
The Mercedes driver won the opening race of the season in Melbourne and was widely expected to dominate the early part of the season in the grid’s leading car.
But his 19-year-old team-mate Kimi Antonelli has ripped up the script with back-to-back wins in China and Japan to lead the standings by nine points.
The season resumes after a five-week break, enforced by the cancellation of April’s races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, with Mercedes still expected to lead the way in Miami.
But Antonelli’s form has raised the prospect of the young Italian taking the title fight to his experienced team-mate.
Russell said he was not worried about being behind at this point, comparing this stage of the title race to the opening few miles of a marathon.
“Nobody remembers who leads the standings for the longest time,” Russell said.
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“It’s about crossing the line first at the end.”
Pushed on which point he would start to be worried if he was trailing in the standings, Russell added: “Probably the summer break.”
Antonelli claimed a sprint pole here in Miami last season but has certainly stepped up his performance over the opening races of the season.
His newfound status as a title contender is not altering the way he approaches the races.
“There will be a lot of pressure in case the opportunity comes. Now we are in a really good position,” Antonelli said.
“For sure it will be a tough fight because I have a very strong team-mate who is up there and always delivering the performance.
“Ferrari are close and McLaren we will see get much better.
“I will try to focus race by race and not think about end results or the championship, try to stay in the moment. It will not be easy and the pressure will be high but I am aware that if I focus on my things and not worry about the rest, we can do great things together.”
There have been a number of tweaks to the sport’s controversial new regulations since the last race in Japan.
During that race, Haas’ Ollie Bearman suffered a high-speed crash into the barriers, blamed in part on extreme closing speeds caused by an element of the new rules.
Russell says the tweaks will mean that cannot happen again and also believes it is unnecessary and unhelpful to attempt to explain the complexities of the regulations.
Tweaks such as a one-megajoule reduction in energy harvesting and a cap on the boost button to 150kw demonstrate how complicated elements of the new regulations are.
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