George Russell arrives at the Italian Grand Prix of Formula 1 under pressure in the fight for this year’s title. For the former category driver, Jolyon Palmer, the Briton needs to win in Monza to prevent Kimi Antonelli from opening a practically decisive lead in the championship.
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Russell is 59 points behind his teammate in the standings, while Antonelli has been responsible for most of Mercedes’ results in 2026. However, the situation may offer the Briton an important opportunity, as the Italian will have a grid penalty in his home race.
Antonelli will receive a new power unit in Monza, and therefore, will start further back. Palmer believes Russell needs to take advantage of the circumstance to reduce the gap between the two: “George has to win,” said the former driver on the F1 Nation podcast.
Palmer also highlighted that reliability will be an important factor on the Italian circuit, and assessed the impact that a possible Antonelli victory could have on the fight: “If Kimi wins in Monza with a grid penalty, he is champion, I will go as far as to say that,” he continued. According to him, it would be a very hard blow for Russell, especially because Antonelli would achieve the result in front of his fans, after a race marked by many overtakes.
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Despite the championship disadvantage, Palmer believes Russell can arrive in Monza motivated by recent performance. In Zandvoort, the Briton outperformed Antonelli in the qualifying session for the GP, secured pole in the Sprint race, and won the short race, as well as showing enough pace to pressure his teammate in the main race on Sunday: “George knows Kimi has a grid penalty. He knows he has a great opportunity to confirm what was a consistent weekend in Zandvoort,” he added.
For the former driver, the pace shown in the Netherlands indicates that Russell was capable of fighting for the win with Antonelli if he had started better: “I don’t think the pace difference was enough for Kimi to simply pass him,” he said. Given this, Palmer summed up the Briton’s moment with a phrase that increases the pressure even more for Monza: “Again, it’s now or never,” he concluded.
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